Never Too Late
by Emador
Summary: Tired of dealing with their Father, Eva and her brothers, Joseph and Tommy, leave home and find a new family in the newsies. While trying to support her brothers, Eva finds love in the one boy who's never asked anything from her. But is he the right one for her?
1. Dinner With the Family

Racetrack sold his second to last paper and sat down on a bench in the shade. He dug in his pocket and found the last stub of a cigar. He struck a match on the ground and lit it. He leaned back, watching people pass by, enjoying the weight of coins in his pocket. It was too late to head to Brooklyn for the races today, but he had big plans for tomorrow.

He saw a familiar face pass by on the other side of the street.

"Hey, Joe!" he called. The boy on the other side of the street stopped and waved at Race. He waited for Race to catch up with him. "You heading home?"

"Yeah," said Joseph. Joseph was fairly new to the newsies. During the school year he only sold in the afternoon and on the weekend, but during the summer, he sold all day every day. "How was that hot tip you got this morning?"

"Don't know," said Race. "Didn't get over to the track today. Gonna take a shot tomorrow, though. How about you? Things finally calming down for you and your family?"

"Mostly," said Joseph. "Dad isn't too mad at us anymore because things worked out okay, but he'll still make snide comments about me joining you guys in the strike. He gives Eva a hard time about it too."

"I'm sorry," said Race.

"Nah, it's not your fault," said Joseph.

"Well, I brought her along to the rally, and she came with me to pass out the Newsies Banner," said Race. "Can't help but feel a little responsible."

"You're one of her best friends," said Joseph. "She wanted to."

"Joseph!" called a female voice from across the street. The boys looked and saw a girl waving them over from across the street. It was Joseph's sister, Eva.

"Wonder what's wrong," said Joseph. They crossed the street. "What's going on, Eva?"

Eva sighed. "Mom ran up our credit here again," said Eva. "Mr. Thompson won't let me buy groceries unless I pay half of it down."

"I'll talk to him," said Joseph.

"Thank you," said Eva. Joseph walked into the store, leaving Eva and Race out front. "Hi Race," she smiled. "How's it going?"

"Not bad," said Race. "Oh, here's your pop's pape." He held out his last paper.

"Thanks," said Eva, handing him a penny for the paper.

"So, uh," said Race, nodding towards the store. "Everything okay?"

"Oh…yeah," said Eva. "Things have just gotten a little tight at home. Mom was having some health problems, so she had to go to the doctor. We're just a little behind on bills right now."

Race nodded. "Your ma okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Eva. "She's been expecting, and the doctor seems to think it's twins, although we can't know for sure."

Race raised his eyebrows. "Wow."

Joseph walked out of the store. "Eva, how much cash you have on you?"

"Not much," said Eva, digging in her coin purse. She dumped the contents in her hands. "I've only got a dollar-fifty on me."

Joseph nodded and took the money. He dug in his pocket and pulled out all the money he'd gotten selling papers. He and Eva counted it out.

"That's only two-fifteen," said Joseph. "We owe five-fifty."

"Here," said Race, digging into his pocket. He pulled out sixty cents.

"No, Race," said Eva. "You don't have to."

"Don't worry about it," said Race. "If you can't help your friends, who can you help?"

Eva smiled and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you," she said. Race involuntarily smiled at her small kiss.

Joseph went inside and paid half their credit bill and walked out with the groceries Eva had been trying to buy.

"Why don't you come home for dinner with us?" Joseph asked. "It's the least we can do. We'll try and rustle up some change to pay you back."

"I've never been one to turn down a home cooked meal," grinned Race.

The three of them walked down the street until they got to Joseph and Eva's family's apartment. They walked up the stairs.

"We're home," Joseph called.

"Where've you two been?" their father asked, walking into the room.

"We had to pay down part of our credit with the grocer," said Joseph.

"Who's this?" Father asked, nodding towards Race.

"This is our friend," said Eva. "He's a newsie with Joseph. This is Racetrack."

"Racetrack," said their father, with an appraising look. "I sure hope your parents didn't give you that name."

"Father, please don't…" said Joseph.

"No, they didn't," said Racetrack. "That's just a nickname my friends gave me. My real name is Anthony."

"Anthony," repeated Father. "Hm." He turned to Eva. "Did you get a paper?"

"Yeah," said Eva, handing him his newspaper. "Actually, Father, Race is the guy I buy your paper from everyday."

"Hm," said Father. "They're often crumpled." Father walked back into the living room.

"I'm so sorry about him," Eva whispered to Race. "Come with me, we'll pay you back."

Joseph took the groceries into the kitchen where their mother was fixing dinner. "Hey Ma," he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "We brought a friend home for dinner, hope that's okay."

"Joseph," Mother sighed. "We can barely feed everyone in our family, we can't go feeding all of your friends."

"Ma, he helped us pay down our credit at the store," Joseph said. "Mr. Thompson wouldn't let us buy groceries if we didn't pay it down."

Mother sighed and looked at Joseph.

"Forty-two, forty-three, forty-four…" Eva counted out, then sighed sadly. "Shoot, I'm sorry, Race. Can I owe you the sixteen cents?"

"No problem, doll," said Race.

"Thank you," said Eva. "You're a great friend."

"Dinner's ready!" Mother called from the kitchen.

"Let's go," said Eva.

Race sat down to dinner with Joseph and Eva's family that night. Their younger siblings, Tommy and Sally also joined them.

"Race, this is my brother and sister, Tommy and Sally," said Eva, putting her arms around the two younger children.

"Hey, how ya doin'," smiled Race.

Sally smiled shyly and hid behind Eva.

"You got a funny name," said Tommy.

"Tommy!" said Eva, flicking him on the ear.

"Nah, it's all right," Race smirked.

Joseph found an extra chair and put it next to Eva's place at the table. They all sat down to dinner.

"So, Anthony," said Father once they started dinner. "You were involved in the strike a couple weeks ago."

"Um, yes sir," said Race.

"Father, please not tonight," said Joseph.

"No, no," said Father. "You all were so high and mighty and proud of it a couple weeks ago, what's the harm in talking about it?"

"Because you keep making us feel guilty for wanting fairness," said Joseph.

"Hard work is always fair," said Father.

"Darling, maybe not in front of company," said Mother.

Father stopped talking, and they all ate their dinner in silence.

"Where do you live, Race?" Tommy asked.

"There's a newsie lodging house not far from here," he said. "I stay there with a bunch of other guys."

"Without any adults?" asked Father.

"There's Kloppman, the caretaker," he said.

"Do you like it?" asked Tommy.

"Yeah, it ain't bad," said Race. "But we don't get good home cooked meals like this. Usually it's pork and beans."

"So it's just you and a bunch of the guys?" asked Tommy.

"Yep," said Race.

"It would be so neat to live with all you guys," said Joseph. "Just livin' and workin'…"

Father scoffed. "At least on Monday when school resumes, I won't have to listen to this anymore, and you'll be back in school."

"I'm not going back to school," said Joseph.

"Yes you are," said Father.

"Pop, we can't even pay our grocery bill, we can't afford to lose the money I make as a newsie," he said.

"We will discuss this later," said Father, gesturing his head toward Race.

"You know, it's late, I should probably get going," said Race. "Thank you for dinner. It was great." He smiled at their mother.

Mother gave him a smile and nodded.

"I'll walk you down, Race," said Joseph.

Race nodded and stood up. "It was nice to meet you all," said Race, giving everyone a wave. He caught Eva's eye. She gave him an apologetic smile and a wave.

Joseph and Race walked out of the apartment. "Look, Joe, I'm sorry if I caused your family any—"

"Don't blame yourself," Joseph cut him off. "The evening would've gone like that with or without you. I'm sorry my family wasn't more welcoming."

"It's all right," said Race. "Your family was great…I like your kid brother. Your pop, on the other hand…"

"Yeah," said Joseph, nodding understandingly. "See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, see ya," Race said with a wave as he walked into the darkness toward the lodging house.

The next day Eva was running errands for her mom. She passed by Tibby's and saw Joseph eating lunch with Race and a couple other newsies. She decided to swing by and say hi.

"Hey guys," Eva smiled, walking up to their table.

"Hey Eva," Race grinned, getting up and grabbing a chair for her.

"How's selling?"

"Can't complain," Blink shrugged. "Their was a factory fire near my sellin' spot, so I have a feeling the afternoon edition is gonna move real well."

"That's kind of…grim," said Eva.

"One man's tragedy is another man's rent money," said Mush, shrugging.

"There he is," said Joseph, looking out the window.

"Who?" asked Eva. Joseph was watching a boy walking with the newsie she knew as Jack.

"Spot Conlon," said Joseph. "He's from Brooklyn."

"So?" asked Eva.

"North Brooklyn are the toughest newsies," said Joseph. "Man, to be one of those guys…"

"They don't take too kindly to outsiders, kid," said Race. "Most of the guys who sell in Brooklyn were born there. Besides, what better crowd to be a part of than us?"

"Hm," said Joseph, turning back to him food.

"Why would you want to be part of Brooklyn?" Eva asked.

"They're tough," said Joseph. "They look after each other."

"We look after each other," said Race.

"Yeah, but…they're Brooklyn," said Joseph.

"And you're…Manhattan," said Eva, mimicking his inflection.

"It's more than just location," said Joseph. "There's this…I dunno…status that Brooklyn guys have."

"Hm," said Eva, watching Jack and Spot walk out of sight. She had to admit, Spot was kind of cute. She heard the church bells ring. "Come on, Joseph, we should be heading home. Mom said she wanted to talk with us. It sounded serious."

"All right," said Joseph. He dug in his pocket and set money on the table for his meal. "See you fellas later."


	2. One More Brooklyn Newsie

The sun was beginning to sink below the Manhattan skyline. Race was sitting in Tibby's with a few other newsies, unwinding from another day of selling.

Spot was in town with a couple of his newsies to talk to Jack about some gangs both groups of newsies were having trouble with. Newsies were scattered around the restaurant, eating and talking. Spot and Jack were deep in discussion while two Brooklyn newsies were sitting at the next table. Mush was bragging to Skittery, Dutchy, and Pie Easter about his latest girlfriend. Race was playing cards with Blink, Boots, and Snipeshooter.

Suddenly, Joseph burst through the door of Tibby's. Several newsies looked up at the sound.

"Hey there, Joseph," said Race, as Joseph walked right past him. "Uh, good to see you too?" Eva was close behind Joseph.

"Joseph!" said Eva, walking right by Race as well.

"Eva?" Race stood up.

Joseph made a beeline for Spot.

"Hold it right there," said a Brooklyn newsie standing up, putting himself between Joseph and Spot. "Where do you think you're going?"

Jack and Spot looked up from their conversation.

"I want to talk to Spot," said Joseph, standing up to his full height. Several newsies raised their eyebrows.

"He's busy," said the Brooklyn newsie. "And Spot doesn't see no one he doesn't want to see."

Jack got up and walked over to Joseph. "What are ya doin', Joe?" he asked quietly.

"I'm here to talk to Spot," said Joseph.

"Yeah, well not just anyone can do that," said Jack. "The last guy that just walked up to him and started talkin' got a mouthful of fist." Jack glanced back at Spot, then back to Joseph. "Not to mention, it ain't good for us as Manhattan newsies if we start disrespecting Spot Conlon."

Eva came up behind Joseph. "Please, let's just go home, Joseph, so you can think this through," she said.

"Who we got here, Jacky-boy?" Spot asked, walking up to them.

"This here's Joseph," said Jack, clapping Joseph on the shoulder. "He sells with us."

"Yeah? He any good?" asked Spot.

"Not bad," said Jack.

"And who's the girl?" Spot asked, nodding at Eva who was behind Joseph.

"This is my sister, Eva," said Joseph. Spot nodded, giving Eva an appraising look.

"So what is it you want, Joseph?" Spot asked, looping his thumbs into his pants.

"I wanna join your newsies," said Joseph. The reactions around the room were varied. The Brooklyn newsies laughed, Eva put her face in her hand, Jack ran his hand through his hair, and the Manhattan newsies broke out into a shocked and excited twitter. Spot just looked at Joseph, while Joseph jutted his chin out, looking back at Spot.

"You got guts, kid," he said. "I like that." The newsies quieted down, surprised Spot was taking Joseph seriously and hadn't punched him out yet. "You think you can run with the Brooklyn newsies?"

Joseph straightened up to his full height. "You bet."

"Joseph, no," said Eva. "Come on, just come home."

"Eva," said Race, walking up to Eva and pulling her off to the side, while Spot and Joseph talked. "What's going on? Is everything okay?" he asked.

Eva sighed. "There was a big fight at home. Pop wants Joseph to work at his factory as an office boy, and Joseph said no. There was lots of yelling, the kids were crying, and now Joseph wants to run away to Brooklyn," she summarized quickly, running her hand through her hair. "This is ridiculous. And I can't stop him so he can think this through. It's such a mess right now."

"Let me walk you home," said Race, as he saw Spot and a couple other newsies lead Joseph outside. "You might not wanna be here for this."

"No," said Eva. "I'm not going home without Joseph. Wait, be here for what?" she asked, walking out the door and pushing her way through the crowd to the mouth of the alley.

"This here's Slugger," Spot said to Joseph, nodding at the second, larger Brooklyn newsie that had been sitting near Spot. "He'll be…let's just say evaluatin' how well you'd fit in with Brooklyn."

Spot at the opening of the alley with the Manhattan newsies. Slugger started to circle Joseph and Joseph, on his guard, circled back.

"Is this what I think it is?" Eva asked. Slugger took a swing at Joseph, which Joseph deftly dodged. "Are you kidding me?" Eva turned to Race. "What kind of sick place is Brooklyn?"

Slugger took a few more shots, all of which Joseph dodged. Slugger was starting to get frustrated. He kept swinging and missing Joseph. The newsies cheered whenever Joseph ducked a punch. A couple times, Slugger's fist connected with Joseph's jaw or stomach.

Suddenly, the familiar sound of a police whistle came from down the block.

"Cheese it!" Jack called. The newsies dispersed, running all over.

"Come on," Race grabbed Eva and pulled her into the restaurant.

"No, what about Joseph?" she said, resisting.

"He'll be fine, but you don't want trouble with the cops," said Race, sitting her down at their old table and sitting across from her.

"Racetrack, what if he gets arrested?" she asked.

"He won't," said Race. "I've seen him out run angry customers, cops…trust me." It was a few minutes before other newsies made it back into the restaurant, Spot included.

Eva saw him and immediately stood up and marched over to him.

"Eva, don't," said Race, going after her.

Eva walked up and slapped Spot across the cheek. "Who the hell do you think you are?" she said, angrily. The slap was heard throughout the restaurant, and every paused, waiting to see Spot's reaction.

"I'd ask you the same question," said Spot, sitting down.

"Because of you, my brother is going to land himself in the refuge," she said, sitting in front of him.

"Calm down, girlie," said Spot. "If he goes to the refuge, he's got you, right? You'll get him out and he'll keep sellin' in Manhattan. And if he doesn't get caught, then he'll come with me to Brooklyn. That is, if Slugger and Flint don't soak him before he gets back here."

"Are you kidding me?" asked Eva, incredulously. She looked from Spot to Race.

"Eva, come on," said Race. "Come with me, let me walk you home."

"No," said Eva. "I'm not leaving until I know what happened to Joseph."

Just then, Joseph burst through the kitchen door, breathless, with a shiner on his cheek and a bloody nose, but alive and grinning.

"Joseph!" Eva jumped up and hugged him.

Joseph gave her a light hug before walking up to Spot. "I lost the cops, Flint, and Slugger," he said. "So what do ya say?"

Spot smirked and stood up. He spit in his hand and held it out to Joseph. "I say welcome to Brooklyn…Dodger," he said.

Joseph grinned, spit in his hand, and shook Spot's.

"Unbelievable," said Eva, shaking her head.

"There are already sixteen Dodgers in Brooklyn, what's one more?" Race smirked. Eva glared at him.

By this time, Flint and Slugger had made it back to the restaurant. Seeing Spot welcome Joseph, their prior animosity towards Joseph dissolved. They welcomed him like one of their own.

"All right, let's head back," said Spot, motioning towards the door.

"Bye, sis," Joseph smiled, giving Eva a kiss on the cheek. "I'll come see you!"

"Joseph…" Eva started, but he was already walking away with his new friends.

"Come on, I'll walk ya home," said Race.

"No, I'm fine. I just want to be alone for a little while," said Eva, walking off.

Race watched her walk off for a few seconds before lighting his cigar and following her, about 20 feet behind her.

After a couple blocks Eva, turned around and saw him following her. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"You said you wanted to be alone," said Race. "But I wasn't about to let you walk home alone after dark." Race kept walking, closing the gap between them.

Eva gave him a small smile. "You're very sweet," she said.

"So, if you don't mind my askin'…what all happened?" Race asked.

Eva sighed. "Well, the short of it is Pop tries to get us to live above our means. Thinks it'll impress his bosses at the factory and get him a big promotion. Anyway, he wanted Joseph to get a job at his factory that'll pay more, and he wants me to get a job outside of the house to help us pay down debt and pay for the new babies. Joseph went into how if we didn't live outside of our means, he wouldn't need to get a better job, and how he's not the one spending the money, so he shouldn't have to pay it down…it got pretty loud between he and Pop. So now he's running out."

"Aw, Eva, I'm sorry," said Race, putting his arm around here.

"Thanks," said Eva, resting her head on his shoulder momentarily.

"Do you know what job you're gonna get?"

Eva shook her head. "Probably housekeeper or cook or something," she said. "It's all I can do."

"Let me know if you need me," said Race as they walked up the front stoop of Eva's apartment building.

Eva smiled. "Thank you," she said. "Do me a favor?" Race nodded. "Whenever you can…can you check up on Joseph for me? Just let me know if he's starving or sleeping under a bridge or anything."

Race nodded. "Sure, sure," he said.

"Thank you," said Eva. She walked up the steps to the door of the building. "See you tomorrow, Race."

"Bye, doll." Race blew out smoke and walked back down the street towards the lodging house.


	3. New Jobs

The next afternoon, Eva came home with groceries and her father's paper to find her father, mother, and a strange man sitting at the dining room table. The stranger was well groomed and dressed in a fine suit – surely one that cost about as much as it did to feed Eva's family for a week. Eva could practically smell money on him.

"Eva, dear," said her mother. "Come sit with us."

Eva set the groceries and paper down in the kitchen and sat at the table.

"Eva, this is Mr. Lagorio," said her father, indicating to the stranger sitting next to him. "He owns the factory I work at."

"Hello," nodded Eva.

"Hello, Eva," said Mr. Lagorio. "I heard of your family's predicament." Eva glanced at her father, wondering how the story was spun to make him look so innocent, and the family so desperate, but proud. "I'm sorry to hear about your brother, but I think I can help you out. You see, I'm a very busy man, and do quite a bit of entertaining. My housekeeper has recently gotten married and moved away, and am in need of a replacement for her. I'd like to offer you the position."

"Wow, really?" asked Eva.

Mr. Lagorio nodded. "We Italians need to stick together you see," he gave a smile.

"Absolutely, thank you," said Eva, a smile of relief washing over her face.

"Wonderful," said Mr. Lagorio. He set a card with his address on the table. "Why don't you come by tomorrow around noon and I will take you through what needs to be done."

Eva nodded. "I will be there," she said. "Thank you again."

Mr. Largio nodded and smiled. "My pleasure," he said. "Your father is a wonderful employee, and I am happy to help his family."

Out of the corner of her eye, Eva could see her father straighten up and smile.

Mr. Lagorio stood up. "Let me walk you out," said her father, and he and Mr. Lagorio walked out of the apartment.

"This should help," said Eva.

Eva's mother nodded. "It will," she said, sadly.

"What's wrong?"

"It still won't be enough," said her mother. "We're going to have to get Tommy selling papers. And Sally will have to work somewhere."

"It'll be okay," said Eva. "I have some friends who can look after Tommy and help him out. As for Sally…maybe she can do some mending – any little things that could help."

"Your father won't like that," she said.

"I think he won't like it even more if we don't have food on the table," said Eva.

The next morning, Race took his normal spot selling. First thing in the morning was always slow. He glanced through the paper, looking for any headlines to improve.

"Ol' man Pulitzer needs to get himself a new headline writer," Race mumbled to himself.

"Maybe he should hire a newsie," a familiar voice said behind him. Race turned around and saw Eva standing there with her younger brother. "Lord knows you all have enough practice."

Race grinned. "Hey, doll. You're looking better."

"Thanks," said Eva. "I got a job as a housekeeper for the owner of my dad's factory."

"Great!" said Race. "So it looks like all is well?"

"Kinda," said Eva. "You remember Tommy?"

"Sure I do," said Race. "Hey, kid."

"I have a big favor to ask," said Eva.

"Name it," said Race.

"Since Joseph left, that income is gone, so Tommy here needs to be a newsie for a little while," said Eva. "Would you mind kinda showing him how it's done? Helping him out a little?"

"Not a problem," said Race, grinning. "It'll be nice to have some company." He looked down at Tommy. "What do ya say, partner?" Race stuck out his hand. Tommy grinned and shook it.

"You're a lifesaver," said Eva. "Thank you so much." She looked down at Tommy and handed him some money. "Race will show you where to get your papers."

"Don't worry about it," said Race. "He can sell these." Race handed a stack of papers to Tommy.

"At least take this to pay for those," said Eva, handing Race some money.

Race waved it off. "Nah, this will be doing me a favor. It's gonna be a slow news day, I wouldn't be able to sell all these myself anyway. But with an innocent face like that, we might just sell out." He gently chucked Tommy under the chin.

"You're wonderful," said Eva, giving Race a kiss on the cheek. "I gotta go, but I'll meet you guys back here around three?"

Race nodded. "See you then."

Eva smiled and walked off to begin work at her new job.

"All right, kid," said Race. "The first thing you gotta learn – headlines don't sell papes—"

"Newsies sell papes!" said Tommy.

"Where'd you hear that?" asked Race.

"My brother told me," Tommy smiled.

"You know how to read?" asked Race. Tommy nodded. "Okay, so you just gotta look through the paper and find an interesting story…"

Race spent the morning teaching Tommy how to improve headlines, how to fake a limp or sickness, and how to get away from the customer quickly before they realize the headline Tommy shouted wasn't in the paper at all.

"You're all right, kid," said Race, lightly knocking the front brim of Tommy's hat. It was the end of the day and they had sold out their papers except for one for Tommy's father. They were sitting on a curb in the shade of a building.

Tommy grinned. "Thanks. I like selling with you." Race grinned. "So, are you my sister's boyfriend?"

"Whoa," said Race. "Where'd you get an idea like that?"

"The way you look at her, and you watched her walk away," said Tommy. "You walk her home a lot. And she talks about you a lot."

"Oh, yeah? What's she say?" Race smirked.

"Just stuff," shrugged Tommy.

Race chuckled. "No, we're just friends."

"Eva!" said Tommy, getting up and running towards his sister. Race looked up, noticing her approach for the first time. He stood up and dusted himself off.

"Hey," Eva grinned, hugging Tommy. "How was selling?"

"It was great!" said Tommy. "Race taught me how to make up headlines, and this one lady gave me a whole quarter because I was pretending to be sick, and…" Tommy went on and on, going through practically every customer they had that day.

"Sounds like a full day," said Eva. She looked up at Race. "Thank you so much, I really appreciate it."

"It was my pleasure," said Race. "He's a great sellin' partner."

"Did you guys settle up already?" Eva asked.

Race nodded. "Yeah, we're square," he said. "How was your first day?"

"Oh my gosh, Race," said Eva. "The place is incredible. I feel like I'm cleaning a palace. This guy is really up there in society. He had me prepare some stuff for a party he's having tonight and I saw his guest list. Oh, to live that kind of life." Eva sighed wistfully.

"Eva, I'm hungry," said Tommy, interrupting her thoughts.

"Okay," said Eva. "We're heading home." She looked up to Race once more. "Thanks again. I'd invite you home for dinner, but I'm sure you remember last time. With all that's happened since then, it would only be worse."

"Not a problem," said Race. "See you tomorrow?"

"Yep," said Eva.

"Bye, Race!" Tommy grinned.

"See ya, partner."

Race watched them walk away. He thought about what Tommy said. He wouldn't _mind_ being Eva's boyfriend, but he didn't think that was going to happen any time soon. He turned and walked back to the Lodging House.


	4. Eva's Second Job

"So how are things goin' for ya?" Race asked one day when he, Tommy, and Eva went out to lunch with a couple other newsies.

"Good," said Eva. "I really love my job, but he doesn't need me all the time. I come to clean once a week, more if he's having a party. But the less I work, the less money I make. I probably need to find a second job."

"Geez, how much money do you need?" Race said, without thinking.

Eva bit her lip and looked down.

"Sorry," said Race, shaking his head. "That was rude. I shouldn't have said that."

"What are you doing now?" Skittery asked.

"Housekeeper," said Eva.

"Kloppy said this morning about needing to hire a housekeeper," said Blink.

"Oh yeah," said Specs. "He said the Children's Aid Society was coming to do an inspection in two weeks and the place needs a lot of work. He's gettin' older, so he can't do it all himself."

"Yeah," said Race. "I mean, he probably won't be able to pay you much, but it'll be something."

"All right," said Eva. "I'm up for that. Just gotta pray my dad doesn't find out."

"Why?" asked Skittery.

"Ever since the whole Joseph fiasco, he's very anti-newsie. I told him Tommy has been working as a shop boy for the bookstore."

"Come on, I'll take you there," said Race.

"We're gonna be off to finish sellin'," said Skittery. "Hey Tommy, you wanna come with us?"

"Yeah!" he said, then turned to Eva. "Can I?"

Eva chuckled. "Sure," she said. Tommy grabbed his hat and followed Specs and Skittery out of the restaurant.

Race and Eva turned onto Duane Street and walked up to the lodging house. "Home, sweet home," said Race, opening the door for her.

It was musty and dimly lit on the inside. The dirt-covered windows let in very little light.

"Hey, Kloppman," said Race, walking up to the counter.

"Hey there, Race," said the old man. "Shouldn't you be out sellin' papers, not playing hookie with a girl?"

Race smirked. "I'm not playing hookie," said Race. "I found us a housekeeper. This is Eva. Eva, this is Kloppman. He runs the lodging house."

"Nice to meet you," Eva smiled, shaking Kloppman's hand.

"You sure you want to clean up after a bunch of boys?" Kloppman grinned. "They can be pretty messy."

Eva chuckled. "I think I can handle it."

"I was actually looking for some one a little older. A little less temptation for the boys," he winked good-naturedly at her, "but I suppose if you've got some experience, you'll do just fine. Let me give you the grand tour."

"The afternoon edition should be coming out soon," said Race. "I should get down there. You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah," said Eva. "I'll see you later?"

Race nodded and smiled. He waved as he left.

"Come with me," Kloppman said. He led her up the stairs to a large room that took up the whole span of the building. Bunk beds and nightstands lined the walls. On the left was a bathroom, left in disarray.

"This is where the boys sleep," he said. "And bathroom. This room needs to be swept every day. Just kind of pick up here and there. Make sure the bathroom is straightened up and scrub the toilets. The sheets need to be washed every couple weeks. Every so often we have a boy come through who just stays for a couple nights or so. Those beds on the end are used for the drifters. Most of the guys who stay here are here for the long haul. I've tried to get them to make their own beds but…they're boys."

Eva chuckled. "I have two brothers, I know how that is," she said.

"Then just sweeping and dusting downstairs," he said.

"That seems easy enough," said Eva.

"Race may or may not have told you," said Kloppman. "I've got an inspection coming up in a couple weeks, so I'll need help doing a few extra things around here. Washing windows and the such."

"Not a problem," said Eva.

"Can you cook?" asked Kloppman.

"Sure," said Eva.

"Well, when the boys pay rent, they also get a hot meal every night. I can pay you a little extra if you could cook for them every night," he said. "They're not picky. They've been living on pork and beans for the last three or four years." He chuckled.

"I'd be happy to," said Eva.

"Wonderful," said Kloppman. "Does starting tomorrow work for you?"

"Absolutely," said Eva. "I do have another job, so there may be one or two nights a week where I won't be able to cook for the boys."

"No problem," said Kloppman. "That'll just be pork and beans night." He winked. "Would you like a cup of coffee before you go?"

"I'd love one," said Eva.

* * *

Eva and Kloppman sat at a small table in a kitchen behind his office. "So how did you come to run a lodging house?" asked Eva.

"It was my wife's idea, God rest her soul," he said. "You see, we couldn't have any children of our own, so she took a great interest in children who didn't have a home. We donated most of our money, little though it was, to the Children's Aid Society. You see they are in charge of the lodging houses. I'm just a superintendant who runs the day-to-day business. As we got older, and didn't have as much money to spare to the CAS, Margaret volunteered us to be superintendants of this lodging house. Since we didn't have our own kids, these boys sort of became our kids. When Maggie died, I didn't know what to do. I thought about telling the CAS I didn't want to do this anymore, but I couldn't bring myself to. I'd gotten so attached to these boys. So I stayed. I know Maggie would have wanted that."

"That's beautiful," Eva smiled. "How long have you been here?"

"Oh, I'd say about fifteen years," said Kloppman.

"Wow, so you've seen a lot of boys come and go," she said.

Kloppman nodded. "A lot of boys," he said. "And the ones that are here now, I can still remember the first time each of them came to us."

Eva smiled. "Tell me about when Race came," she said.

Kloppman chuckled. "One of my favorite stories," he said. "It was a rainy night. The kind where it feels like some one turned on a faucet in the sky, and it was just pouring down. This little scrappy kid comes in, soaked to the bone and shivering. He couldn't have been more than seven or eight. Not a penny to his name. He comes in, and says he heard about this place, but he didn't have the money to pay rent. He then asks me if I'd roll him for it – double or nothing." Kloppman laughed. "Just a little squeaker, talkin' like a true gambler. He had to have heard it from some guy earlier that day."

"Did you do it?" Eva asked, laughing.

"Yeah, I had to humor him," said Kloppman. "The poor kid lost four dice rolls in a row, so by the end, he owed me sixteen nights worth of rent."

"What did he do?" asked Eva, laughing.

"Jack Kelly lent Race the money for rent that night," said Kloppman. "And I forgave the gambling debt. Back then Jack was just a young one too. His father had just been put in jail, leaving him all alone."

Eva and Kloppman spent some more time chatting before Eva had to head home. She and Kloppman shook hands with farewells until the next day.

Eva began walking home, thinking of what she could tell her father, knowing he wouldn't be happy about her working at the lodging house.


	5. Chapter 5

_Author's Note: Thank you to all who've reviewed – I love hearing your responses and what you think! This is a short chapter, so I'll be uploading two chapters tonight for your reading pleasure – and because it's Friday!_

* * *

"Hey, how was your first day?" Race asked, walking in to the lodging house kitchen.

"You boys are pigs," said Eva.

Race laughed. "Yeah, I guess we kind of are," he said. "What are you making?"

"Beef stew," said Eva. "Maybe not as filling as pork and beans, but it's something different and you can eat as much as you want."

"The bunkroom will smell a lot better tonight without beans in the meal," said Race.

Eva chuckled. "Glad I could help."

Snipeshooter ran into the kitchen. "Race, I think we were robbed!"

"What do you mean, Snipes?" he asked.

"The bunk room…and the bathroom," he said. "Everything's missing!"

"It's not missing," said Eva. "Everything is just put away in drawers, and the beds are made."

"How are we supposed to find anything?" asked Snipeshooter.

"Go get Tumbler and tell him it's a treasure hunt," said Race. "He can find it all for ya."

"Great idea!" said Snipeshooter, running out of the kitchen.

"I guess Kloppman didn't prepare them for what 'clean' means," she said.

"The place looks great, though," said Race.

"Thanks," Eva smiled. She turned the heat down on the stew. "I gotta get going. Ma will need help getting dinner ready at home."

"When will you get a break?" Race asked.

"When I get to sleep tonight," said Eva, shrugging. She poked her head into the other room. "Hey Kloppman, I'm going to head home. The heat's on under the stew. I'll do the dishes when I get here tomorrow."

"Thank you, dear!" said Kloppman, giving her a smile and a wave.

"I'll walk you home," said Race. They walked out and down the street.

"So how's Tommy doing selling?" she asked.

"He's good," said Race, nodding. "He'll go off and sell with Tumbler and Snipeshooter a lot, but I'm never too far away."

"Thank you for keeping an eye on him," she smiled. "Have you seen Joseph at all?"

"Yeah," said Race. "I saw him earlier today when I was coming home from the track. He's doing good."

"Good," said Eva. She got quiet and looked at the ground as she walked.

"You okay?" Race asked.

Eva shrugged. "It's just hard not having him at home," she said. "Without him, I get the brunt of all Father's anger."

"Your pop doesn't hit you or anything, does he?"

"No, no, nothing like that," said Eva, shaking his head. "He will just go off on an angry rant, and Joseph was always the one to stand up to him and distill the situation. Without him, and me working two jobs outside of home, I'm too tired to say anything. So he just gets angry all through dinner."

They stopped outside of Eva's apartment building.

"I'm sorry," said Race. "If there's anything I can do, I'm here for you."

"Thank you," she said.

"Speakin' of which," said Race. "I was wondering, um, if you were interested, maybe you and I could—"

"Eva!" yelled her father, his head popping out of the window, cutting him off. "You're late, get up here!"

"I'm sorry," said Eva. "Can you finish that thought tomorrow?"

"Sure," said Race. "Night."

"Goodnight!"

* * *

"I'm up for a promotion at work, if I can get this strike settled," said her father one morning before leaving for work. Eva was deadbeat tired. Working two jobs, and helping around the house with hardly a break was beginning to get to her. The inspection at the Lodging House was that afternoon, and she wanted to get there early, so she could make sure everything was perfect. It was her day off from Mr. Lagorio's.

"If I get that promotion, Tommy will be able to go back to school," he continued.

"And Eva?" asked their mother.

"Eva is better off staying where she is," said her father. He turned to Eva. "Mr. Lagorio is very well connected. He's a fair man – he will pay you well, and reward you for good, hard work."

"Great," said Eva, nodding, not really listening.

"Now, my boss, not Mr. Lagorio, my immediate boss, will be coming here for dinner next week," said her father. "So this place must be spotless. Eva, you will need to really help your mother out, since she won't be able to do much."

"Yes, father," she said.

"We'll need to make sure everyone looks their best," he said. "Go ahead and get one of _his_ old suits for Tommy." Father refused to say Joseph's name since he left. "Sally can wear on of Eva's old dresses, Eva and Mother, you two will want to make sure you look nice. If you have to buy new dresses, then do it."

"Father, we don't have the money," said Eva.

"You got that second job at the bookstore, didn't you?" Father asked. Eva bit her lip and nodded. She lied to her father and told him she'd been working at the bookstore when she was really at the lodging house.

"Once I get this promotion, we can pay off our debts faster," he said. "I want this evening to go off splendidly. We are going to present the image of the perfect family."

"But we're not," said Eva.

"Hush," said Father. "Yes, we have our problems, but soon they will be behind us. Once I get this promotion, I'll be making enough so Tommy won't have to work, and Eva will only need one job. We'll be taken care of and financially secure again."

Eva sighed. She wanted to believe her father had the best of intentions; that he just wanted to provide for his family, but he went about it all wrong.


	6. The Truth Comes Out

Eva sent all morning scrubbing the Lodging House to within an inch of its life. The floors were swept, the bed made, the bathroom spotless, and the windows sparkling.

She went out and ate lunch with Race, Tommy, and a few other newsies, making herself scarce before the inspector showed up.

"You done for the day?" Race asked.

"Yeah," said Eva. "I might go back to the Lodging House in a couple hours to see how the inspection went."

"How about taking the afternoon off?" asked Race. "It's a beautiful day. The afternoon edition promises a good headline. Why don't I get my papes, and we can spend the afternoon in the Park?"

"That sounds great," Eva smiled.

Eva and Race walked to the circulation office, Race bought his papers, then they walked up town to Central Park.

The park was so busy on a sunny day like today; Race's stack of papers was gone in no time. They walked toward The Pond and sat under a tree near the shore.

"I can't remember the last time I was able to just take a walk, or sit in the shade and relax," said Eva.

"You deserve a break," said Race.

"I love how you hardly can remember you're in the city when you're in Central Park," said Eva, resting her head back against the tree.

"Yeah," said Race. He looked out over the water. If there ever were a time to ask her out, it would be now. There was no way her father could interrupt, like last time. Now, if he could only get the nerve to do it again.

"How'd you become a newsie, Race?"

"Eh, it's a boring story," he said. "You don't want to hear it."

"Yeah, I do," she said, turning toward him.

Race paused and looked out at the lake for a few moments before he began speaking. "My pop died in a factory fire when I was a kid," he said. "So my ma had to work. There was no one to watch me, so she had to take me to work with her."

"Where'd she work?"

"A nightclub over on 28th street. She was a waitress," he said. "I wasn't supposed to be there. She would always tell me to stay in the backroom, but I couldn't resist the temptation. I'd sneak out of the back and hang around all night and watch the guys playing poker, blackjack, craps…" Race looked down at his hands. "One night, a fight broke out over a high stakes poker game. Ma was usually pretty good at calmin' the men down. I'd seen her do it a million times. But one of these guys pulled a knife right when Ma got in the way…" Race looked down at his hands.

Eva took his hand. "I'm sorry…I didn't think…I wouldn't have pushed you into telling it, if I thought…"

"Don't worry about it," said Race, forcing a smile and squeezing her hand. "It was a long time ago. I've got a good life now."

"You want to head back and see how the inspection went?" Eva asked.

"Yeah," said Race. He stood up and helped her up. The sun was low in the sky, showing the beginnings of a sunset as they walked downtown.

* * *

"Hey Kloppman?" Eva called, when they walked into the Lodging House.

Race gave a low whistle. "You pulled out all the stops this morning," he said. "This place looks great!"

"Thanks," Eva smiled.

"Hey there," said Kloppman, coming out of his office.

"How did it go?" Eva asked.

"We passed with flying colors!" said Kloppman.

"Yes!" Eva grinned.

"Way to go, Eva," Race smiled.

"I can't thank you enough for your help," said Kloppman.

"It was my pleasure," said Eva, giving him a hug.

Just then, Tumbler burst into the lobby.

"Eva! There you are," he said, out of breath.

"What is it, Tumbler? Sit down," Eva put an arm around him and led him to the sofa. "What happened?"

"Tommy and I were selling," he panted. "Things were going fine, and this guy suddenly came and started yelling at him and dragged him away."

"Who was it?" asked Eva, standing up.

"I think it was your Pop," said Tumbler. "I thought I heard Tommy saying 'father.'"

"I gotta get home," said Eva. "Thanks, Tumbler."

She ran out of the Lodging House and got home as soon as she could. When she walked into the apartment, Father was sitting, arms-crossed, in the living room, across from a sheepish-looking Tommy.

"You've got some explaining to do, young lady," said Father.

"What do you mean?" Eva asked, feigning naïveté.

Father stood up and began slowly pacing the room as he spoke. "This afternoon, I took an early lunch with my boss. On our way from lunch, I decided to stop by the Greeley Square Bookstore to show him the great work ethic of my two oldest children." Eva noted he was completely ignoring Joseph's existence altogether. "When who should I see selling newspapers _outside_ the store, instead of selling books _inside_ the store, but Thomas here."

Eva's mind was racing, trying to think of an excuse, any story to cover for Tommy. "The, um, the bookstore has started selling the afternoon ed—" she started.

"Don't try and lie to me," Father cut her off. "When I went inside the store, the owner told me he's never heard of you, and no one matching your name or description works for him, or has ever worked for him." Father turned to her. "I don't even know where to begin. After all your mother and I have done for you, you lie to us, you lead your brother astray, and you humiliate me in front of my boss. If you haven't been working at the bookstore, where have you been spending your time?"

Eva swallowed. "I'm a housekeeper and cook for the newsboys lodging house on Duane street," she answered quietly.

Father pursed his lips, but Eva could see the vein in his forehead begin to show.

"You will cease working at that place. And Tommy will not sell another paper," he said.

"No," said Eva, finally finding her courage once more. "I make money there. That's how we were able to pay mom's doctor bill. That's how we paid off our credit at the grocer, and our credit at the department store."

Her father hesitated, obviously weighing the options in his mind. "Well, now the bills are paid for, you will not work at the lodging house any more. When you're not working for Mr. Lagorio, you need to be helping out around _this_ house."

"Pop, they need me there," said Eva.

"Your family needs you here," said Father.

"My family does nothing but self-destruct. For years, Joseph and I have done damage control, and now that you've driven him out, it's been all on my shoulders," she said. "Down at the lodging house at least I'm appreciated."

"If you choose to continue working there, you can find some where else to live," said Father.

"No," said their mother from the door of the kitchen. "You've already turned out one of our children, I will not have that happen to another."

Her father ignored her mother. "You're a young woman," he said. "You can make your own choices. Just remember what you're giving up."

"Why, pop?" Eva asked. "Why do I have to choose between my friends and family?"

"Your 'friends' have torn this family apart," said her father.

"No," said Eva, standing you. "YOU have torn this family apart."

Eva turned and walked into her bedroom. She gathered what little she owned and put it in a sack. She walked past her father and toward the door. She opened it and before walking through, turned around and said, "You need to be careful, Father. The harder you try to control your own family, the more you'll lose them."

She walked out the door, not paying attention to where she was walking. She just knew she had to get out of that house. She was hurt and angry, yet somewhat relieved that she didn't have to keep the lodging house a secret anymore.

The farther she walked away, the more relief the felt. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going, and was surprised to find herself walking down Duane Street. She saw the lights of the lodging house on, warm and inviting. The same sort of lights burned in her own home, but she didn't feel the same feeling of welcoming towards them.

She pushed the door open. A fire was burning in the fireplace, boys were scattered around the lobby, some playing cards, some talking.

"Eva," said Kloppman, looking up from his books. "What are you doing back here?"

"I need help," she said.

"Eva, what's wrong?" Race asked, walking up to her as soon as he saw her. "Is everything okay? Was Tommy okay?"

Eva took a deep breath. "Tommy's fine. They kicked me out. Or I walked out, I don't know how you'd categorize it. But I'm not living at home anymore, and I need somewhere to stay. Just for tonight, I know this is a boys place, and I can find the girls lodging house tomorrow, it's just late and I need a place to sleep."

"Slow down there," said Kloppman. "We can help you out, no worries."

"Thank you," said Eva.

"You've helped us out so much, instead of you having to pay rent at a girls place, we can move around the stuff in the storage room, and get a bed in there for you," said Kloppman. "You can stay here in exchange for work."

"Really?" said Eva, looking hopeful.

"Of course," said Kloppman. "We passed our inspection because of you. We can't lose you now." He gave a smile and a wink.

"Oh, Kloppman, thank you so much," said Eva, giving him a hug.

"Snitch, Skittery, Dutchy, come help me move this stuff to the back room," said Kloppman, waving the boys over to a door off the side of the lobby.

"Come sit down," said Race. Eva set her bag down and sat down on a bench below the front window. She slowly began to realize what just happened – she walked out on her family, on her mother, her brother, her sister, and the unborn twins.

"Oh god," said Eva, putting her head in her hands. "What have I done?"

"Hey, hey," said Race, putting his arm around her. "You did what you needed to do."

"But the kids…mom…the twins," Eva said, leaning back up and against the wall. Her hands were shaking. "I just abandoned them. How are they going to survive? Father is going to drive them into debt again."

"It's gonna be okay," said Race. "What you need is a good night's sleep, and we can figure it all out in the morning."

Kloppman came out. "It's a little dusty, but it's all yours," he said. "I set some fresh sheets on a bed we had in there."

"You're a lifesaver, Kloppman," Eva said, standing up. She gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Eva walked into the little room. It wasn't much, but it was a room of her own – something she'd never had before. There was a small window facing the street, and a bed on the opposite side of the room. An oil lamp sat on a small bedside table. Eva set her bag on the windowsill.

Eva began to put the sheets on her bed when Race popped his head into her room. "Eva? Can you come out here for a minute?"

"Sure," said Eva. She walked out into the lobby, and at the entrance of the lodging house, with a sack full of belongings was Tommy.


	7. A Trip to Brooklyn

"What are you doing here?" Eva asked Tommy, after pulling him outside to talk.

"I can't live in that place anymore," said Tommy.

"Tommy, no, this is not the life for you," said Eva.

Tommy raised his eyebrows. "It's the life for you and Joseph," he said. "And you two are more my family than the rest of our family. Please don't make me go back."

Eva sighed and put her arm around him. "Come on, kiddo," she said. They walked back inside. "Hey Snipes, can you help Tommy find an empty bed?"

"Sure," Snipeshooter jumped up. "Come on, Tommy." Tommy followed Snipeshooter up the stairs.

"Everything okay?" Race asked, following Eva into her room.

Eva smiled wryly. "You know how much you've asked me that the past couple weeks?" she said, digging through her coin purse.

Race grinned. "It's been a rough few weeks for you," he said.

Eva chuckled. "You got that right," she said, walking out of her room. She gave Kloppman the six cents for Tommy's room and board that night. She signed his name in the book.

"Um, Racetrack?" Kloppman said, motioning him over.

Race walked over. "I know, I know," said Race. "Kloppy, I just need one more day."

"Race, this is the fourth night in a row," said Kloppman.

"I'm sorry," said Race. "I promise, tomorrow I'll have this whole week's worth of rent to you."

"That's what you said yesterday," said Kloppman.

"Everything okay?" Eva asked.

"Yeah, just a little behind on rent," said Race.

"I thought selling was going great," said Eva.

"Oh it is," said Race. "But the track isn't so much."

"Maybe you should pay your rent before you go bet at the track," said Kloppman.

"I know," said Race, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just get on these really lucky streaks, and one bad bet, and it all goes away."

Eva pulled out a quarter and set it on the counter. "There. You're paid up," she said.

"Eva, no, I can't let you do this," he said.

"Come on," she said. "You're like family. Besides, don't I still owe you sixteen cents? And you helped Tommy with selling…"

"Thanks," said Race.

"Goodnight, Race."

"Night, doll."

The next morning, Eva woke up to the sound of church bells. She sat up in bed, remembering the events of the evening before. She sighed and rubbed her eyes. The sun was beginning to rise outside. She got dressed, went into the kitchen and boiled some water for tea.

"You're an early riser too?" Kloppman asked, behind her.

"Yeah," Eva smiled. "Habit from living in a building with a communal bathroom for everyone on that floor."

Kloppman looked at his pocket watch. "I better go rouse the troops," he said. Eva sat down with a cup of tea, listening to the talking, laughing, and bickering coming from upstairs. Few by few, the boys came downstairs to head out to the circulation office. Eva sat, watching and listening to them as they passed by.

"You gonna see her again today, Mush?" Blink asked.

"You betcha!" said Mush. "She told me she liked my smile…" His voice faded out as they left the building.

"You can sell with us, Tommy," said Boots. "We usually sell down by Greeley Square."

"Yeah, only coz Snipeshooter's got eyes for one of the storekeeper's daughters!" laughed Tumbler.

"Ah, shut up!" said Snipeshooter.

"Hey Eva," said Tommy, walking over. "I didn't bring any money with me when I left home…"

Eva handed him a quarter. "Have fun." She smiled at him as he and the boys walked out.

"Hey there," said Race, when he came down. "How'd you sleep?"

"Not bad," said Eva. "Hey, later on, I want to go to Brooklyn and talk to Joseph. Let him know what happened, and check up on him. Would you mind walking with me? I'm nervous about going alone."

"Sure," said Race.

Race and Eva walked down by the docks where the Brooklyn newsies were swimming and hanging out in and around the river.

"Who's that you got there, 'track?" one of the newsies said.

"Too sweet to be from Brooklyn," chimed in another. There were various whistles and catcalls that came from the scattered newsies.

"Girlie, I can give you what that joker can't!" called another.

Eva sighed, wishing she could disappear.

"Hey, shove off, that's my sister!" yelled a voice.

"Joseph," Eva grinned.

A couple of the newsies laughed. "Joseph? That's your name?"

"Ah, shut it, guys," said Joseph.

"Sorry…Dodger," said Eva, grinning.

"How ya doin', sis?" he grinned, giving her a big hug.

"Okay," she said.

"It's good to see you," he said. He nodded at Race. "Hey, Race." He turned back toward Eva. "Just okay? What's wrong?"

Eva sighed. She and Dodger walked along the pier as she told him everything that had happened at home and the lodging house the day before.

Race lit a cigarette and threw the match in the river.

"Hey Race," said Spot, walking up to him.

"Hey, Spot," he said. "How's it going?"

"Not bad," he said. "Who's that, talkin' to Dodger?"

"That's his sister," said Race. "She was there during Dodger's initiation."

"Oh yeah, I remember her now." Spot tilted his head as he watched her. Race had seen that look in Spot's eye before. He suddenly felt a surge of protectiveness for Eva. He didn't want her to become just another of Spot's girls.

"That's rough," said Dodger, after Eva had finish recounting the night before. "What about Sally and Ma?"

"I don't know," said Eva. "But it's only three of them for now. They should be okay with Father's income."

Dodger nodded. "You're right. Thanks for coming and telling me."

"Sure," said Eva. "Besides, I hadn't seen you for a couple weeks. Had to make sure you were doing okay."

Dodger chuckled. "I'm doing fine," he said. Then his smile disappeared and he lowered his voice. "Actually, I had to borrow some money from some of the guys. Papes haven't been moving very good. You think I can…"

Eva nodded. "Sure," she said. "How much you need?"

"A dollar," he said.

Eva looked up at him in surprise. "Have the headlines been that bad?"

"Well, the headlines are bad one or two days in a row, and I gotta pay rent and eat…"

Eva dug in her pocket and pulled out what money she had. "I've seventy-five cents," she said.

"Thank you," said Dodger, giving her a hug. "I promise I'll pay you back as soon as I can."

"Who we have here?" Spot asked, walking over with Race.

"You remember my sister, Eva," said Dodger.

"Ah, yeah," said Spot. "Nice to see you again."

Eva nodded. "You too," she said. "I see you've been taking good care of my brother."

Spot shook his head. "Nah, he pretty much takes care of himself…"

"Dodger, can I talk to you for a minute?" Race asked.

"Sure." Dodger and Race walked off to the side as Spot and Eva talked.

"I was thinkin' of asking Eva out some time," said Race. "And was wondering if you'd be okay with that."

Dodger nodded. "Yeah, so long as she is," he said, looking over at Eva and Spot. Eva was smiling and laughing at something Spot had said.

Race nodded. "It's just you and I are friends, and I wanted to make sure we were good before I did that."

Dodger grinned and clapped Race on the back. "Trust me, you're one of the few I'd say yes to," he chuckled.

They walked back over to Eva and Spot.

"…find yourself in Manhattan, you can take me out," Eva smiled.

Spot smiled. "It's a date, then," he said. Race and Dodger shared a look. Spot and Eva smiled at each other a few more seconds before Race cleared his throat.

"Ready to head back?" Race asked.

"Yeah," said Eva. "See you around," Eva gave Dodger a hug and kiss on the cheek. "Bye Spot."

"Bye," Spot smiled.

Eva and Race turned and started heading back toward the bridge. During their walk back there were no more whistles or catcalls thrown in Eva's direction.

"So…what's going on with you and Spot?" Race asked.

"He said he wanted to come see me some time," she shrugged.

"You hardly know him," said Race.

"I said he could take me out some time, not that I would marry him," said Eva. "Isn't the point of going out with some one to get to know them better?"

"I guess so," said Race, digging his hands in his pockets.

"Besides, there's something about him," said Eva. "Something under that rough exterior…I can't put my finger on it."

"You know, it's none of my business, but there's a few things you should know about Spot if you're going to go out with him," said Race.

"What do you mean?" asked Eva.

"Well, for one, he's got a different girl every week," said Race. "There's not shortage of competition for his attention among the newsgirls in this town."

"Really?" Eva said sounding slightly disappointed. Race nodded.

"I guess I shouldn't expect him to actually come then," said Eva.

"How about some dinner? My treat," Race smiled.

"Sounds great," she said. "I'm starving." She looped her arm through his and they crossed the bridge back into Manhattan.


	8. First Date

It was a crisp fall evening, and Kloppman had a fire going. Newsies were littered around the lodging house – some playing cards, some talking, Mush bragging about yet another of his girlfriends, and Specs reading aloud to Crutchy and some of the younger ones. Eva was at the counter helping Kloppman balance his books.

"Hey Race?" Eva asked, motioning him over.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Kloppman has really cut you a lot of breaks when it comes to paying room and board," she said. "You owe almost a dollar."

Race sighed. "I know," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

The lodging house door opened and Spot Conlon walked in.

"Hey there, Spot," said Race, grinning. "Come for a game of poker?"

"Not tonight, Race," said Spot. "I'm here to see Eva."

Eva looked up. "What?" she asked.

Spot walked over and leaned on the counter, giving her a smile. "I was on this side of the bridge, and thought you might like to go out for dinner."

"Oh," said Eva. "Um, sure." She smiled. "Just let me change real quick."

"Sure, doll," Spot smiled.

Eva walked around the counter and into her room. Race walked back to where he'd been sitting and went back to his card. Soon, Eva came back out wearing a skirt instead of pants, and a blouse instead of a shirt.

"Wow," Spot smiled. "You look great."

"Thanks."

Spot and Eva walked out the door.

"Where's she going?" asked Tommy. Race burned too much with jealousy to answer.

"She's going somewhere with Spot," Specs answered.

"To Brooklyn?" Tommy asked. "I want to go with them and see Joseph."

"No," said Specs. "They're not going to Brooklyn. She'll be back later."

* * *

"Where are we going?" Eva asked.

"There's a little Italian place near the bridge I like to go to," he said. "It's a little run down, but the food is good." Spot grinned and took her hand as they walked. "You know, I gotta say, I'm surprised you wanted to go out with me."

Eva grinned a bit. "Well, I may have been disgusted by you on our first meeting…but Joseph is happy where he is," she said. "And if he's happy, I guess I have no cause to complain."

"You two seem pretty close."

Eva nodded. "We are. We've been through a lot." They walked along in silence for a few moments. "I know this is probably the worst time to ask a question like this, but I just gotta clear the air."

"Okay," said Spot.

"I heard that you're pretty popular with the ladies," said Eva. "In fact the phrase 'a new girl every week' was thrown around."

Spot didn't say anything.

"Look, I'm not going to turn around and go home if it's true," said Eva. "I just want to know what I'm getting in to."

"It's not what it sounds like," said Spot. "It's not like I go through women because I'm using them, or lose interest, or just look at them as conquests. It's hard to find the right person for you."

"Well, you certainly seem to do your share of comparison shopping," said Eva.

Spot smirked. "The girls just come to me, I can't help it if I'm such a hot item on the market."

Eva laughed and rolled her eyes.

Spot opened the door of the restaurant for her. They sat down next to a window that had a view of the Brooklyn Bridge.

"So Dodger tells me you work at the Lodging House?" Spot asks.

"Yeah," she said. "There, and I also work as a part time housekeeper for a guy on the Upper East Side."

Spot raised his eyebrows. "Fancy," he said.

"It is," she said. "So what's your story?"

Spot shrugged. "Not much to spill," he said. "Was a troublemaker in the orphanage, and got tired of getting my knuckles rapped. So one day, the groundskeeper had a heart attack or somethin' out in the yard. All the nuns called us inside, but I hid behind a tree. The gates were left wide open while the ambulance and police came. When no one was lookin' I sneaked out. Never looked back."

"How old were you?" Eva asked.

Spot shrugged. "About 7, I think. So what about you?" Spot asked.

"Well, I have two brothers and a sister," she said. "Dodger, obviously, and Tommy, who lives with the newsies in Manhattan. My sister and parents are still at home."

Spot nodded. "Dodger told me about your pop," he said. "You seem to take good care of your family."

"I _did_," said Eva. "Until I walked out."

"Hey, you gotta take care of you," said Spot. "And the people who won't take advantage of you and your hard work."

Eva gave him a smile. The more they talked, the more Spot didn't seem like the tough Brooklyn bad boy that he was cracked up to be. He was just a regular guy. A very cute regular guy. A very cute regular guy who was interested in her. They talked all through dinner, until the owner was putting the chairs up and sweeping.

"I should get going," said Eva. "Kloppman locks up at nine-thirty."

Spot nodded. "Sure," he said.

They walked hand-in-hand back to the lodging house. Spot stopped on the doorstep, and Eva turned to him.

"Thank you for a nice evening," she said.

Spot nodded. "You're welcome," he said. "I had a nice time too."

Eva grinned. "You're not so bad, Conlon," she said.

Spot chuckled. "Don't let that get out. It'll ruin my reputation," he winked.

"I'll take it to my grave," she smiled.

"'night, Eva," Spot said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Good night," she said, turning around and walking into the lodging house.

The lodging house lobby had cleared out a lot since she'd left. Specs was still by the fire with a book, Race was playing solitaire, and Tommy was asleep on the couch next to him.

Race looked up when he heard the door close. "You're back," said Race.

"Yep," Eva nodded, though she couldn't keep herself from smiling. "He's…not how I expected."

"Great," said Race, shortly, nodding and picking up his cards. "Goodnight." He walked up the stairs.

"That was…odd," said Eva.

"Yeah, he's been in a foul mood most of the evening," said Specs, putting his book down.

"Do we know why?" Specs shook his head. Eva shrugged and walked over to Tommy's sleeping form. She pushed his hair away and kissed his forehead. "Wake up, Tommy. Let's get you to bed."

Tommy moaned as Eva pulled him into a sitting position. "What time is it?"

"Way past your bedtime," she said, pulling him up.

"I'll get him upstairs," said Specs, walking over. He bent down and picked Tommy up.

"Thanks," Eva smiled.


	9. Day at the Races

Eva was walking home Mr. Lagorio's, daydreaming of ball gowns, caviar, and dancing.

"Hey, doll," said Race, walking up next to her.

"Oh hey," Eva smiled. "I didn't see you there! Where are you headed?"

"Had a good day sellin', so I'm off to the track," Race smiled. "A jockey that buys a pape from me every day gave me a tip – it's a sure thing. You want to come with?"

"Sure," said Eva. "I've got the rest of the day free."

Eva and Race got on a trolley to the Sheepshead Racetrack in Brooklyn.

When they got to the track, they got in line at one of the windows.

"Give me your rent money," said Eva, holding her hand out.

"What?" asked Race.

"Like Klopppman said – don't gamble your rent money," she said.

Race dug into his pocket and pulled out a quarter. Eva put it in her pocket.

"You know, I could win bigger, if I bet that," he smirked.

"Not gonna chance it," said Eva grinned.

"You want to go in on my bet? Make yourself some money?"

"No," said Eva. "I can't afford to lose money."

"Trust me," said Race. "You won't." Eva looked at him doubtfully. Race shrugged. "Come on, it's fun."

"Oh, fine," said Eva, digging a few coins out of her pocket.

Race walked up to the window. "Three bucks on As Good As It Gets."

"That's a horse name?" Eva asked.

"Yep," said Race, taking his ticket and putting it in his pocket. He walked her to the grandstand.

"Wow," said Eva. "I've never been here before. This is kind of neat."

"Isn't it? Come on, I'll show you the best spot," he said. He took her hand and walked her up to the tallest part of the stands. Over the track, they had a beautiful ocean view.

"Wow," said Eva. "It's beautiful up here."

Race grinned. "Right above us are the private boxes," said Race. "They got waiters that bring you food and drinks, and you can place your bets without even leaving your seats."

"When does your horse race?" she asked.

"Fourth race. Right after this one."

"This has been a nice day so far," Eva smiled at him. "We haven't spent a lot of time together lately."

Race nodded. "Yeah," he said, looking down at his hands before looking back out at the track.

"Everything okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," said Race. "So, uh, how are things with Spot?"

"Pretty good," said Eva. "I don't see him a whole lot…mostly whenever he makes his way to Manhattan."

"That's good," said Race. "I was worried he might follow his usual pattern, and you'd end up broken hearted."

Eva smiled. "Nothing like that so far," she said.

The race finished and new horses were in the shoots. "This is my race," he said.

"Which horse did you bet on?" she asked.

"The black one closest to us."

The doors were opened and the horses were off. Race was on his feet, cheering the whole time. His horse started in the front pack, and by the final turn was in the lead, and crossed the finish line.

"Yes!" Race cheered.

"We won!" beamed Eva.

Race pulled her into a hug. "I told you it was a solid tip!"

Race and Eva walked down to the window. Race collected his earnings. "I haven't had dollar bills in my hands in months," said Race. "Here." He handed her three dollars.

"I won all this?" she said.

"Yep," Race grinned.

Eva smiled. She handed him his quarter. "There's your rent money."

Race smiled and pocketed the quarter.

"Let's go home, while you're ahead," she said.

Race hesitated. "There's a couple more bets, I want to place," said Race. "I have the money now."

"Don't you want to enjoy having this money?" asked Eva. "Why risk losing it again?"

"Because I'm willing to risk doubling it," said Race. He took a dollar and stuck it in his pocket. "There…save some, bet some."

"Fair enough," said Eva.

Race approached the betting window and placed a couple more bets.

"Let's go watch the race," he smiled.

* * *

As the horses rounded the last turn, the horse Race had bet to win suddenly fell. The fall caused a jam in the horses in the front pack.

"Shit!" said Race, standing up to get a better view.

The race finished, and all of Race's bets had gone down the drain. A few scattered cheers, as the first and second place winners crossed the finish line.

"No," said Race, sitting down once more, staring off at the track.

"I'm sorry, Race," said Eva.

Race put his head in his hands. Eva put her hand on his back.

"At least you still have that dollar and your rent money," said Eva. Race let out a groan. "Right?"

Race sighed and looked out at the track once more. "I…well, since I was spreading my money across a few horses, I figured one of them was guaranteed to win, so I put it all down."

"Even the money you told me you wouldn't bet?"

Race nodded.

Eva sighed. "Come on, let's go home," she said. She looped her arm through his and they walked down the stands, out of the track area, and onto the streets.

"Thank you," he said.

"For what?"

"For not saying 'I told you so.'"

Eva gave his arm a squeeze.

"Mind if we stop and see Spot on our way back?" Eva asked as they got on the trolley.

"Sure," said Race, looking at the ground as they walked.

The trolley rolled to a stop near the docks where Spot and his newsies usually hung out.

Eva and Race got out of the trolley and walked toward the docks. "No matter how many times I come here, I still get nervous around these guys," said Eva.

"You're Spot's girl…you're safer here than you would be anywhere else," said Race.

"Look who's slummin' it," said a familiar voice.

"Hey Dodger," Eva smiled. She walked up and gave him a hug.

"What brings you around here?"

"We're just on our way home from the track, and thought we'd come by and say hi," she said.

"What's with him?" asked Dodger, nodding to Race.

"Bad day," said Eva. "Is Spot around?"

"He should be around here somewhere," said Dodger. He turned to a smaller newsie. "Hey Spit, go find Spot."

The smaller newsie ran off.

"Higgins!" called a gruff voice. The three of them turned to see a tall, muscular newsie approaching them."

"Damn," said Race, sighing. "Hey, Flint."

"Where's my money?" asked the newsie.

"I don't have it," said Race. "I'll have it for you next week."

"You said that last week," said Flint, crossing his arms. "And the week before."

"I don't have your money, Flint," said Race.

"Then you and I are gonna have a problem," said Flint, cracking his knuckles.

"How much does he owe you?" Eva asked.

"Three bucks," said Flint.

"Three bucks?" Dodger asked, incredulous. "How long have you been borrowing from him? And why _him_?"

"Long story," said Race.

Eva pulled out the rest of money she had won and handed the money to Flint. Dodger frowned and crossed his arms. Flint took the money and walked away.

"Eva," said Race, but he didn't know how to finish the sentence.

"Don't worry about it," she said.

"Well hey there, gorgeous," said a voice behind them. Eva turned around and smiled at Spot.

"Hi," Eva smiled, walking up to him. Spot gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, putting his arms around her.

"We went to the track," said Eva. "I'd never been before, and Race was having a good selling day."

Spot glanced over at Race. "I take it he isn't anymore," he said.

Eva shook his head.

"Well, he's not the only one to have a good selling day," he said. "How about I treat you to an early dinner?"

"Sounds great," said Eva. She turned to Race. "I'm gonna stick around for a bit. You go ahead without me."

"I'll come with you," Dodger said to Race. "I haven't seen Tommy in a while."

"You two have a nice night," said Race.

"Race, hold on," said Eva. She dug in her pocket and handed him a quarter.

"Eva, I can't take this," he said.

"What, you plan on going hungry and sleeping on Horace Greeley?" Eva asked. She put the quarter in the pocket of his vest. "I don't want to hear any more about it."

Dodger watched the exchange with disapproval, but said nothing.

Race and Dodger walked off in silence.

"What was that all about?" Spot asked, taking her hand.

"He lost big at the track," she said. She told him the story of Race betting it all.

Spot shook his head. "Story of that boy's life. Is that why you gave him money?"

Eva nodded.

"That's not your job," he said.

"What am I going to do, let him go hungry?"

Spot shrugged. "You've got two other brothers you take care of," he said. "Race shouldn't be taking advantage of you like that."

"He's not taking advantage, he didn't even ask."

"How many times have you bailed him out?" Spot asked.

"I don't want to talk about this," said Eva.

"Eva, you're my girl. Some one needs to look out for you while you're looking out for everyone else."

"He's my best friend, practically a brother to me. I have to take care of him."

"Next time something like this happens, you send him to me," he said.

"Are you going to sic a guy like Flint on him if he doesn't pay up?" asked Eva.

Spot didn't say anything.

"And that's why I'm not going to send him to you," she sighed.

"Look, I promise I won't sic anybody on him, okay?" said Spot. "But I don't want you giving money to anyone but Tommy. Send Dodger to me too."

Spot opened the door to their usual restaurant and they sat down.

"I just don't like seeing you work so hard, but have nothing to show for it," he said.

"Can we talk about something else?" asked Eva. "Today was supposed to be a good day."

"Okay," said Spot, taking her hand over the table.

* * *

"I'll walk you home," he said after dinner.

Spot and Eva walked down the bridge, hand in hand.

"The bridge is so pretty at night," she said.

The moon was rising over the river, and the lapping of the river below was a soothing sound. They stopped in the middle and Eva leaned against one of the railings.

Spot stood behind her, his hands resting on the railing on either side of her.

"It's amazing how a city like this can be so busy in the daytime, but so quiet at night," he said, resting his cheek against her head. Eva leaned back against him. She liked the feel of his chest against her back. He moved his hands to around her waist.

"What do you think about moving to Brooklyn?" he asked.

"Where would I live?" asked Eva.

"We've got a spare room in our house too," said Spot.

"I don't think Jacob would let me live with you guys," she said. "Besides, I can only live with the boys, because I have a deal with Kloppman. Room and board in exchange for work."

"I can swing a deal with Jacob," he said, turning his head into her neck, giving her a kiss below her ear.

Eva closed her eyes.

"I can't leave Tommy in Manhattan," she said.

"We've got a bunk he can sleep in," he said.

"My job with Mr. Lagorio is in Manhattan," she said, turning to face him.

"You can take the trolley," he said, leaning in and kissing her.

Eva slid her arms around his neck as he rested his hand on her hips. They stayed in that embrace, kissing, neither one of them knowing or caring for how long.

All too soon, church bells went off in the distance.

"I need to go," she said. "I don't want to get locked out."

"If you were in Brooklyn, you'd never get locked out," said Spot.

"Jacob doesn't lock up at night?" asked Eva.

Spot held up the key that hung around his neck and winked.

Eva smiled and kissed him once more. "Let's go." She looped her arm through his and they walked toward Manhattan. "You know, to be honest, every time we're together, I'm still pleasantly surprised we're together."

"Why?" asked Spot.

Eva shrugged. "What Race said when you first asked me out. I expected you to get tired of me by now and move on to someone else."

Spot looked at her. "I don't want to move on to someone else." He smiled.

Eva smiled and gave him a kiss. "I'm glad to hear it."

Spot walked her up to the stoop of the Lodging House.

"I'll see you later," said Spot.

"Good night," said Eva.

"Night," Spot said. "If you ever change your mind about moving to Brooklyn…"

"You'll be the first to know," Eva smiled.

Spot leaned in and gave her a lengthy goodnight kiss. They didn't hear the door to the lodging house open until some one cleared their throat. Eva jumped and pulled away. Dodger was standing in the doorway, an eyebrow raised.

"Oh, hi, Dodger," she smiled, sheepishly.

"Hello," said Dodger, looking knowingly from Eva to Spot.

"Goodnight," Eva smiled at Spot, before retreating into the lodging house.

"Headed back?" Spot asked.

"Yeah," said Dodger, closing the door. They walked down the stoop and headed to Brooklyn. "Look, I know you're the big, tough, Spot Conlon, leader of the Brooklyn newsies, but that is my sister. And I have no problem clocking you if you ever do anything to hurt her."

"I can respect that," said Spot, chuckling.


	10. Christmas Party

_Author's Note: Hi everyone! Thank you all so much for your reviews – you're beautiful people!_

* * *

The snow fell softly outside. Every year the Children's Aid Society put on a Christmas Eve dinner for the boys. Newsboys and newsgirls from all over the city would come for a night of food, Christmas music, and company.

Eva was sitting with Race and Snipeshooter at a table, enjoying the music when Spot sauntered over and sat down next to Eva, putting his arm on the back of her chair. Race was trying to teach Eva poker.

"Merry Christmas, fellas," he said, then looked at Eva, "and lady."

"Hey Spot," Race nodded.

"Hi," smiled Eva as Spot leaned over and kissed her.

"Win anything yet?" he asked.

"No," said Eva. "I'm still trying to get the hang of it."

Spot leaned over and looked at Eva's cards. He whispered in her ear, and pointed to a few of her cards. She put a couple down and got a couple from Race. Spot whispered something else. Eva glanced up at Race's face and nodded.

"What are you tellin' her?" Race asked.

"How to beat you at poker," grinned Spot.

"That's impossible," Race smirked.

"Every poker player has a tell," Spot winked. He gestured at Race. "Even this joker – don't let him fool you…he gives away his cards on occasion."

Eva chuckled.

"All right, moment of truth, kid," said Race.

"Nothin'," said Snipeshooter, showing his cards.

"Eva?" asked Race.

"I have some twos and threes," said Eva.

Race sighed and put his cards down. "That's not just twos and three, Eva. That's a full house."

"Does that mean I won?" asked Eva.

"Yep," said Race. "Wiped me out."

Eva smiled and collected her winnings and put them in her coin purse.

"That's my girl," Spot smiled and kissed her cheek.

"You may be the leader of Brooklyn, but I'll still soak ya if you get too handsy with my sister," said Dodger, walking up, grinning. Dodger sat down as Tommy walked up behind him.

"I'd like to see you try," Spot joked. "So Eva, did you think anymore about moving to Brooklyn?"

Race looked up at them when he heard that. Eva looked at Spot, and then stole a glance at Race before looking back at Spot.

"Well, my job is here," she said. "My friends are here."

"True," said Dodger. "But your brother and your boyfriend are in Brooklyn. You could live in Brooklyn, then just come here every day to do your job. It's a great idea."

"That's a lot of traveling every day," said Eva. "Besides, Brooklyn's a little…dangerous for me."

Spot looked at her. "You're my girl, and Dodger's sister. Ain't nobody gonna mess with you," he said. "But no pressure. Just wanted to see if you'd thought anymore about it." He kissed her cheek.

Race became very focused on shuffling the deck.

"Can I move to Brooklyn?" Tommy piped up.

"Sure," Dodger smiled.

"No," said Eva.

Dodger looked up at Eva. "Why can't he?"

"Because then I'd never get to see him," she said. "As it is, I hardly see you."

"Well, if you came over to Brooklyn more often, you could fix that. We all know you make Spot always come to Manhattan."

"Dodger," said Spot, shaking his head.

"I don't _make_ him do anything," said Eva.

Spot stood up. "Come on," he said to Eva, taking her hand and walking off with her.

"Does it bother you?" Eva asked, once they were away from the table.

"What?" Spot asked, pouring her some punch.

"You always coming to Manhattan," said Eva.

Spot shrugged and handed her some punch. "Not really," he said. "I'm just across the bridge. Besides, you come to Brooklyn some times too."

"I guess," said Eva, glancing in the direction of their group.

"Hey," said Spot, putting his arm around her. "Don't let them bother you." He kissed her temple.

Eva rested her head on his shoulder.

* * *

Later that evening, Eva and Spot walked up on Tommy playing poker with Race and Dodger.

"You better not be taking my brother's money," Eva joked, standing behind Tommy.

"Are you kidding?" said Race. "I regret teachin' him – this kid's gonna grow up to be a dangerous poker player." Race winked at her.

"Yeah, and Eva doesn't need another gambler to support," Dodger chuckled.

Eva looked at him. Race looked from Dodger to Eva to the table. "Excuse me?" Eva asked.

"Come on, everyone knows Race's debts are only paid because you pay them off for him," said Dodger.

"That's…none of your business," said Eva.

"Dodger," Spot warned.

"Well, you're my sister and I don't like seeing people take money you've worked for," he said. "It's exactly what Father used to do."

"Don't you dare compare Race to our Father," said Eva, her voice getting dangerously serious. "That's low, even for you. Besides, I help you out too. Now you want to take our younger brother away from me. As if you'd be able to better support him?"

"Well, no," Dodger said. "That's why you should move to Brooklyn too, so we'd all be together."

"Eva, let's go see what the others are up to," Spot took her hand, trying to pull her away.

"Then I'd be throwing away two cents a day just to get over the bridge," said Eva, shaking Spot off. "That's a waste."

"You're throwing away more money than that on this guy, after he throws his money away at the track," said Dodger, throwing his thumb at Race.

"Hey, I pay her back when I can," said Race.

"You pay her back, what, 2 bits on the dollar?" Dodger snapped.

"Don't lecture me about money," said Eva. "Twice I've had to empty my savings so you and Tommy could eat and buy papers."

"Yeah? And what are you saving for, Eva? Hmm?" said Dodger. Eva stared at him, her mouth set in a line. "Eva, it's never going to happen. You could save your whole life, and with what you're making now, you'll never be where you want to be. You were born poor, you're gonna live poor, and you'll die poor. Like the rest of us."

Hurt flooded over Eva's face before she stormed out of the hall. Dodger rested his elbows on the table and ran his hands through his hair. Race threw down his cards and leaned back in his chair. Spot stood up and followed Eva out.

Tommy looked up at his older brother. "Should I go apologize?" he asked.

Dodger looked at him and shook his head. "No," he said, ruffling Tommy's hair. "You didn't do anything wrong, okay?"

Eva walked out into the freezing cold. As soon as she stepped out, she realized she forgot her jacket, but she didn't want to go back inside. She took deliberate, deep breaths, willing herself not to cry. She heard the door open behind her. A warm jacket was draped over her shoulders.

"If you catch pneumonia out here, I won't have a date for New Year's Eve," said Spot, putting his arm around her.

"Thanks," she said.

"You okay?" Spot asked. Eva nodded. "Christmas always brings out the worst in families. Or so I'm told." He paused. "You wanna talk about it?"

"I don't know," she said, kicking snow with the tip of her boot. "Do you agree with him?"

"Well, we've had the conversation about you and Race before. But on the other part, no," he said. "You work hard. I know one day you'll be able to save up enough to have the security you want."

Eva smiled up at him, then her smile faded. "I'm just so tired of this," she said.

"Of what?" asked Spot.

"Of having to take care of everyone. I mean, I want them safe, and fed, and provided for, but it's exhausting, always worrying about them, and working so hard to just have the money disappear almost as soon as I have it."

"You take care of Tommy," said Spot. "Let me worry about the rest."

"I can't put that burden on you," she said.

"You're not," said Spot. "Race is my friend too, and he shouldn't only mooch off you. He shouldn't be mooching at all. If he's going to borrow money, it needs to be from someone who will demand it back."

"What about Dodger?"

"Like I said before, he's one of my boys," said Spot. "If it means taking the burden off you, I'll take care of him."

Eva looked up at Spot. Spot, who was so fiercely loyal to those closest to him, including her. He never asked anything of her, never expected anything of her.

She rested her head against his shoulder.

"So you want to keep me around for New Year's?" she joked.

Spot smirked and kissed the top of her head. "I'd like to keep you around for a lot of things," Spot said into her hair.

Eva looked up at him and smiled. She'd spent all her words for the night. She didn't want to have to talk anymore. And luckily for her, talking was not on Spot's mind.

He leaned down and kissed her. Eva felt herself lean into him, and Spot put both his arms around her.

* * *

Dodger knew he needed to talk and clear the air with Eva. He grabbed his coat and walked outside. He saw Spot and Eva in a very close embrace. He lightly cleared his throat.

Eva jumped slightly and pulled back. She saw her brother standing by the entrance to the hall. Spot turned around. He nodded when he saw Dodger, understanding. He took Eva's hand and gave it a quick squeeze before he went back inside.

Eva pulled Spot's jacket closer around her. "Hi," she said to Dodger.

Dodger sighed and walked up next to her. "Eva, I'm sorry," he said. "I know I said some pretty mean things in there."

"Yeah, you did," she said. "I hope you apologized to Race too."

Dodger nodded. "I did," he said.

"I guess I'm sorry too," said Eva.

"Why?" asked Dodger.

Eva shrugged. "What's family there for, if not to help each other out? I don't really resent you guys when you borrow money," she said. "Honestly, I'd rather have you guys healthy and fed than have more money in my savings jar."

"Come here," said Dodger, wrapping her in a big hug.

"Love you," Eva said.

"Love you too," said Dodger, kissing her temple. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a handful of change. "This is the money Tommy, Race, and I were gambling with." He held his hand out to her. "We want you to have it. Since we've all borrowed money."

"Thanks," said Eva with a small smile. "I hope Tommy doesn't feel like he needs to pay me back. He's so young."

Dodger shook his head. "Nah, he was the one who told us what we should do with our money," he said. "He's a good kid." Eva chuckled.

"Come on, let's go inside and enjoy the rest of the party."


	11. A Night in Brooklyn

"I'm surprised it's stopped snowing," said Eva.

"It's a nice break," said Spot.

They were walking along the East River, hand in hand. Spot stopped at a bench overlooking the river, and they sat down.

"Things been okay at the house since the Christmas party?" Spot asked, putting his arm around her.

"Yeah," said Eva. "It was a little awkward for a while. I think Race was avoiding me, because he felt guilty. Makes it hard when one of your best friends avoids you."

"At least he's not borrowing your money anymore," said Spot.

"Yeah," she said, sadly.

"Hey," he nudged her. "You still got me."

She smiled and kissed him. "Very true." A chilly wind blew and tiny flakes began to swirl around.

"Just when we thought it was over," he chuckled. "Let's get inside somewhere." Eva nodded. He took Eva's hand once more and they walked along the bank. The flakes began falling bigger and faster. "Let's head to my Lodging House. It's closer, and you can stay there until this passes. It's too cold to walk all the way to your place."

Eva and Spot walked to the Brooklyn Boys Lodging House. When they walked in, no one was there.

"Wow, usually the boys are back by now," said Spot.

"Might as well get a fire going," said Eva, walking over to the hearth. She stuffed old newspapers into the spaces between the logs and lit a fire. Spot sat down on the couch and pulled her onto his lap.

"Spot!" Eva giggled. "Boys could walk in at any minute."

"We'll hear them coming before they walk in," said Spot, pushing a strand of hair out of her eyes.

"My brother could come in," said Eva.

Spot nuzzled her neck. "Then we'll say you fell on me," he said.

"Oh yeah, like that's a believable excuse," she said, but smiled despite it.

Spot turned her face to him and kissed her. He felt her slide her arms around his neck.

"Stay here tonight," he whispered, pulling back a fraction of an inch. "It's too snowy and cold to go back to Manhattan tonight."

Eva glanced at the window, where the snow was beginning to fall once more. "They'll worry about me," she said softly.

"They know you're with me," he said. "They know I'd never let anything happen to you."

Eva looked into his eyes. She didn't want to leave, but she also knew she should head home. "There's no where for me to sleep."

"We got a spare room too," said Spot, holding her waist. "It's a little cold and drafty, but…I could keep you warm."

Eva's stomach erupted into a churning pot of butterflies at his implication. She felt her heart race, her ears pound, and her mouth go dry. It surprised her at how much she wanted to stay with him. "I can't," was all she croaked out. "The boys…Jacob…my brother…"

"No one has to know," he whispered, kissing along her jaw. "But if you really don't wanna, I understand."

Eva looked down at him and bit her lip, weighing her options.

* * *

"It's getting' kinda late," said Race, checking his pocket watch. "I thought Eva would be back by now."

"She might be havin' dinner with Spot," said Tommy. "It's Kloppman's night to do dinner, she probably just wanted a night out."

Race just pursed his lips and went back to his card game with Tommy and Snipeshooter.

* * *

"Where's Spot?" Dodger asked, walking into the Brooklyn lodging house.

"Dunno," said Flint, who was playing a card game with Slugger. "The lodging house was empty when we got back."

"Hm," said Dodger, absently.

* * *

The next morning, Eva woke up on the cold, hard floor. Her side hurt from lying so stiff all night. She felt Spot's warm body next to her, his arm draped around her. She could feel his warm, even breathing on the back of her neck.

She moved slightly, trying to stretch, trying to alleviate the stiffness in her back.

"Morning," Spot said sleepily.

Eva turned around so she was facing him.

"Morning," she said.

"You as sore as I am?" he asked.

Eva chuckled. "Yeah," she said, sitting up.

"Despite the cold, hard floor, it was nice sleeping next to you," he smiled, giving her a kiss.

"I agree," she smiled. "I better go. Mr. Lagorio has given me a few more hours of work every week. He's having me help manage some of his affairs."

"Like what?" asked Spot.

"Like keeping his social and work calendar, keeping track of where he's supposed to be and when. He's too busy to meet with everyone himself, so he wants me to begin to take care of more of the household things," she said.

"Wow," said Spot, grinning. "I'm proud of you." He kissed her temple.

"Yeah," she said. "It's pretty amazing. The only thing is, I have less and less time to spend keeping up the Lodging House."

"Just don't get so busy you go forgetting about me," he winked.

"Never," she smiled, putting her head on his shoulder. Spot rested his head against hers. He was truly happy for her, but at the same time, he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. His girl was going places. She was getting opportunities that she deserved, but that Spot knew would pull her away from him. If she was going to be moving up in the world, and where would that leave him? A girl with a fancy job and nice clothes isn't going to want to live in a boy's Lodging House forever. And once _that_ connection was severed, why would she ever want to hang around with a dirty newsie like him? Get her cleaned up, and the gentlemen will come calling in droves.

"Hello?" Eva waved a hand in front of his face.

"Huh?" Spot asked, breaking out of his trance.

"I was saying that I need to get to work. If we wait much longer, the boys are going to come down," she said. "If they see me walk out there, they're going to get the wrong idea."

As if on cue, they heard the boys thundering down the stairs, grumbling and bickering on their way out the door.

"We'll wait a few minutes," said Spot. He helped Eva stand up. She smoothed out her shirt and skirt, running her hands through her hair to straighten the tangles.

Spot grabbed his cane and slingshot, tucking them into his waistband. Eva smiled as how tousled his hair was.

"What?" he asked, when he saw her smile.

"You're cute in the morning," she grinned.

"You're not so bad yourself," he winked. They heard the last of the footsteps in the lobby disappear. "I think the coast is clear."

Eva opened the door and they walked out, only the coast wasn't clear. Sitting on the couch, putting his shoes on was Dodger.

"Eva?" he asked, with a mix of confusion and surprise.


	12. The Next Day

"Dodger," said Eva, equally surprised.

When Dodger's gaze turned from Eva to Spot, his expression hardened. He stood up and walked slowly over to Spot.

"Dodger," said Eva, putting herself between Dodger and Spot.

"I told you…" he warned Spot. "I told you what would happen if you…"

"Nothing happened, Dodger," said Eva. "I promise."

"Eva, go back to Manhattan," said Dodger, angrily.

"No," said Eva.

"Eva," said Spot, putting his hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. You need to get to work."

Eva looked between Spot and Dodger before she conceded. "Come see me later, okay?" she said quietly. Spot nodded and gave her a reassuring smile.

Eva gave him a kiss on the cheek and walked out of the lodging house.

"Spot, I told you what I would do, if you ever laid your hands on her," said Dodger.

"Dodger, believe me, nothing happened," said Spot. "It was too cold and too late to go back to Manhattan, so she decided to stay over."

"With you. In private. In the spare room," said Dodger.

"Well, she wasn't going to stay in the bunk room," said Spot.

"We were all home a good two hours before we went to bed," said Dodger. "Where were you then?"

"We were…in there," said Spot.

"Doing what?"

"We talked, and we slept," said Spot. "That's it. I swear to you, on my honor as the leader of the north Brooklyn newsies."

"Your honor is shit right now," said Dodger.

"Look, Dodger, I respect that you're Eva's older brother, and you want to protect her, but we didn't do anything," said Spot. "And it's pissing me off you won't take my word for what happened."

Dodger just shook his head, too angry to listen. "I can't even look at you right now," he said, walking out. "Stay out of Manhattan, and stay away from my sister."

* * *

Eva walked down the street, on her way to Lagorio's house, angry with Dodger for ruining an otherwise wonderful morning.

"Eva?!" she heard Race's voice.

She turned and saw him jogging across the street.

"Hey, Race," she smiled, tiredly.

"Where were you last night? You never came home," he said. "We were worried."

"Oh," she said. "I stayed in Brooklyn. It was too cold and snowy to walk home last night."

"You…stayed…in Brooklyn?" Race asked, staring at her.

Eva sighed. "Yes, I stayed. As in SLEPT," she said, raising her voice, taking her anger at Dodger out on Race. "I SLEPT in Brooklyn, okay? SLEEP. As in slipping out of consciousness for a few hours when it's dark."

"Okay," said Race, putting his hands up in defense and taking a couple steps back.

Eva sighed. "I'm sorry, Race," she said. "You didn't deserve that."

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"No," she said, kicking a pebble with her toe.

"Come on," said Race. "I'll walk you to work, and you can tell me about it."

Eva told Race about what happened the day before and that morning.

"And now Dodger has the completely wrong idea," she finished. "I can't imagine what he thinks of me, and I know…_I know_ he's going to come to the lodging house tonight, tell me I can't see Spot anymore, and we're going to get in a huge fight, and it's going to create unpleasantness all around."

"You want me to talk to him?" asked Race.

"No," said Eva. "I'll deal with it when it happens." They stopped in front of Lagorio's apartment building. "Thanks for walking me to work. And for listening."

"No problem," Race grinned. Eva gave him a kiss on the cheek before going inside.

* * *

"Hey, doll," Eva heard as she walked home from work that evening.

"Spot," she smiled. "Hey." She walked over to him and hugged him.

"You doing okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said. "What did Dodger have to say after I left?"

Spot waved a hand in the air and shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Hungry?"

"I gotta get home and make dinner for the boys," she said. "But you can stay to eat, if you want."

Spot grinned. "Let's go." He took her hand and they walked down the street.

He pushed open the door of the lodging house for her.

Inside, the boys were lounging around, trying to stay warm. Dodger sat near the middle of the room, playing a card game with Tommy, Snipeshooter, and Tumbler. He looked up when they walked in and glared at Spot. His gaze shifted to Eva, who was glaring at him. There were a few moments of silence, as there was a stare down between the two parties.

"Dinner will be ready in an hour, boys," she said, walking toward the kitchen. Spot followed her into the kitchen.

"Why is he here?" she sighed, getting water boiling.

"Don't worry about him," said Spot, before changing the subject. "Tell me about work today."

"It was good," she said. "Mr. Lagorio had me organize RSVPs for another of his balls. You should see the guest list. If you turn to the Social Page in today's paper, that's basically his guest list. And, he wants me to help at the ball. I'm going to actually meet these people!" Talking about her work lifted her mood.

Spot's fears from that morning continued to nag at the back of his mind. "That's great," he said, forcing a grin.

"You okay?" she asked. "You seem a little distracted."

"It's nothin'," he said, leaning in and giving her a kiss.


	13. The Inevitable

_Author's Note: If you have enjoyed this story so far, drop me a line and let me know! __Thank you to everyone who has reviewed already!_

* * *

"I don't understand," said Eva, sitting on a stool in the Brooklyn Lodging House kitchen. "What is something I did?"

"No," said Spot, looking out the window at the snow, avoiding her gaze. It had been three days since they'd spent the night together. Three days for the fears that had cropped up in Spot's mind that morning to take root and refuse to leave.

"Then why are you ending this? Things were going great," said Eva.

"Look, Eva, it's nothing you did, it's just…things aren't working."

"Like what things?" asked Eva.

Spot didn't say anything. He just took a drag from his cigarette and watched the snow fall heavier.

Eva felt hot tears sting her eyes and her throat tighten. "Is it someone else?"

"No," said Spot.

A soft sob caught in Eva's throat and she wiped her eyes. Spot discreetly glanced back at her, a pained expression crossing his face when he saw her crying.

"So that's it, then? Just like that, you decide you don't want to be with me anymore," she said. "And there's no particular reason why."

Spot just shrugged, trying to keep his emotions in check. The sound of her soft sobbing behind him was like a knife through his heart. He clenched his fist and his jaw to keep his control.

Eva wiped her eyes and regained her composure. She stood up. "I thought you were better than this, Spot. You could've at least looked me in the eye while you broke my heart." She took a deep breath and walked out into the lobby.

There was a poker game going on. A handful of Brooklyn and Manhattan newsies were playing in the lobby.

Eva stood in front of Dodger for a few moments before he noticed her.

"What's going on, Eva?" he asked.

"You did this, didn't you?" she asked.

"Did what?" asked Dodger.

Something snapped in Eva's mind. She marched over to Dodger and slapped him across the face.

"Ow! What was that for?" Dodger said angrily.

"You did this," Eva said, hitting him in the arm. "It. Was. You!" Each word was punctuated by a slap across his arms or chest.

"Whoa, whoa," said Dodger, trying to avoid her blows.

"He did this because of you!" she screamed, continuing to hit him. Race stood up and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her away from Dodger.

"Easy, girl," said Race.

"I don't know how you did it," she yelled, trying to fight against Race's grasp. "But this is your fault!"

"Come on, Eva," said Race, pulling her toward the door.

"Get off me!" she pushed Race away and stormed out of the lobby.

"What the hell was that?" Dodger asked.

"I'm gonna make sure she gets home okay," said Race, putting his coat on and walking out.

Dodger stood up and walked into the kitchen. He grabbed Spot by the collar and pushed him against the wall. "What did you do?"

"Nothing," said Spot, pushing Dodger away. He walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs. "And it's none of your damn business." Dodger followed him.

"Spot, cut it out," said Dodger, once they were alone in the bunkroom. "You and Eva were so happy, what happened?"

Spot sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "It's a long story."

"I got time."

"Look, Eva is…special. She's not like any of the other girls I've been with."

"I could've told you that," Dodger rolled his eyes. "Doesn't explain why you dumped her with no explanation."

"She's too good for me, you know? I hear all about her job with that guy, and one day she's gonna move on to bigger and better things, and she's not gonna want to slum it with a Brooklyn newsie like me. It's better for me to get it over with now than to delay the inevitable."

Dodger sighed. "Spot, she would never..."

"Just go away."

* * *

"Eva!" yelled Race, as he ran through the snow. "Wait up."

Eva kept her determined pace, walking home.

Race finally caught up with her. "Are you okay?" asked Race.

"I'm fine," said Eva, not looking at him.

"What happened? What did he do to you?" asked Race.

"Nothing, he didn't do anything," said Eva. "He just…"

Race grabbed her arm and stopped her. "He what?"

Eva turned toward him when she stopped. "He's done with me. And this is all Dodger's fault. Spot has been acting strange ever since we saw Dodger the morning I stayed over in Brooklyn."

"Look, Eva, no matter what Dodger did or said, Spot always does what he wants. He wouldn't break up with you just because of something Dodger said to him."

"Well, there's no other reason," said Eva, feeling the tears spill onto her cheeks. "He just…doesn't want me anymore." Eva sniffed.

"Come here," he pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry."

"I guess it was inevitable…that Spot wouldn't want to stay with me forever."

"Hey," said Race, looking her in the eye. "Any guy would be lucky to have you forever."

Eva gave him a small smile. "Thanks."

"Come on, let's get home before it snows any harder." Race and Eva walked the rest of the way home.

As soon as Eva walked into the Lodging House, she went into her room, closed the door, and got under the covers.

Race stood on the other side of her door for a few moments before turning and sitting down at a table. He dealt out Solitaire for himself.

Pretty soon, the younger newsies were coming home, and making snowmen and having snowball fights in front of the lodging house.

"Is Eva back from Brooklyn yet?" Tommy asked, coming in, wet from a snowball fight.

"Yeah," said Race. "She's napping right now."

"Oh," said Tommy. "Do you know what she's fixing for dinner?"

"I dunno, kid," said Race. "It might be a pork and beans night."

"Can we go to Brooklyn?" asked Tommy. "I want to see Dodger, and Spot said he was gonna teach me how to use a slingshot."

"Not today," said Race. "Dodger and Spot are busy."

"Okay," said Tommy, running back out to play with Tumbler, Snipeshooter, and the other boys.

Race just lost his sixth hand of Solitaire when Eva emerged from her room. Her eyes were red from crying.

"You okay, doll?" Race asked.

Eva nodded and shuffled into the kitchen. He could hear her starting to fix dinner. Race wanted to help, to do something for her, but he didn't know what to do. He walked into the kitchen and stood in the doorway.

"Anything I can do to help?" he asked.

"No," said Eva, chopping vegetables and dropping them in the pot.

"Are you sure? I could—"

"I said no, okay, Race? I'm fine." Race was taken aback, but didn't say anything. "Has Tommy come back yet?"

"Yeah, he's been outside playing with the others for a while," said Race.

Eva sighed and walked to the door, yanking it open.

"Tommy, where's your coat?" she asked.

"It's over there," Tommy pointed to where is coat was lying on the ground.

"Why aren't you wearing it?"

"I'm not cold," he said.

"You need to put your coat on," said Eva. "You're soaking wet and it's cold out. You're going to get sick."

"But I'm not—"

"Thomas James Bellini, you put your coat on right now, or you are coming inside and not going out again!" she snapped.

Tommy and the others froze, never having heard Eva yell before. Tommy walked over and picked up his coat, which was now wet from the snow.

"Um," he started.

Eva sighed. "Of course," she snapped again. She walked over, grabbed Tommy's wrist in one hand and the coat in the other and took them both inside. "Get upstairs and change into dry clothes right now." Tommy looked at Eva, still in shock. He looked at Race, then back at Eva. "Upstairs now!"

Tommy turned and walked up the stairs. Eva sighed and hung Tommy's coat near the fire to dry. She walked back into the kitchen.

Race watched the whole exchange with the same shock Tommy did. He followed Tommy up the stairs. Tommy was rifling through his bag, pulling out his second outfit. He heard him sniff a few times.

"You all right, partner?" Race asked.

"Yeah," said Tommy, changing his pants. "She's never yelled at me before."

"She's goin' through a tough time," said Race.

Tommy changed his shirt.

"No one's ever called me Thomas before…except Father," he said, sitting on his bunk. "And she yelled at me in front of the guys…"

Race sighed and sat on the bunk next to Tommy. He put his arm around him. "I'm sorry," said Race.

"You didn't do anything," said Tommy. After a beat, he added, "Can I be alone for a bit?"

Race nodded. "Sure," he said. "I'll be downstairs if you need me." Tommy nodded.

Race stood up and walked down the stairs. He heard crying in the kitchen. He poked his head in and saw Eva sitting at the table, sobbing. He walked in, sat next to her, and put his arm around her.

She leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. "I'm a terrible sister," she said. "First Dodger, then Tommy…"

"No you're not," said Race. "You just had a bad day."

"Yeah, I did," she said, wiping her eyes. She cried until she was just softly hiccupping. "Why doesn't he want me anymore?"

"I don't know," said Race. "You're wonderful…I can't think of a reason he'd do this to you."

"Thank you," said Eva. "I'm sorry I snapped at you."

"Don't worry about it," said Race.

"Eva?" said a voice from the doorway.

Eva lifted her head and saw Tommy standing there.

"Hey sweetie," she said, wiping her eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Eva nodded. "Yeah," she said. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Tommy walked over and hugged her. "It's okay," he said.

"No it's not," said Eva. "I know exactly who I sounded like out there, and I hate myself for it."

"Don't," said Tommy. "I don't hate you."

"Thank you," she said.

"What happened?" asked Tommy.

Eva shook her head. "Nothing," she said.

"Okay," said Tommy. "Can we go to Brooklyn tomorrow? Spot was going to teach me how to use his slingshot."

Eva swallowed. "I'm not going to Brooklyn for a while."

"Why not?" Tommy asked.

"I'll take you to Brooklyn tomorrow," said Race.

Tommy grinned.


	14. Sick Day

Tommy's breath was hoarse and shallow as he slept. Eva sat in a chair next to his bed, her elbow propped up on the arm of the chair, her head resting on her fist.

She alternated watching the snow fall outside and watching Tommy sleep. What had started out as a bad sore throat the day after playing in the snow, turned into coughing fits all night, and difficulty breathing.

The longer Eva sat, the more exhaustion began to take over. She closed her eyes, Tommy's even breathing lulling her to sleep.

The next thing she knew, there was a hand on her shoulder. She opened her eyes, looking up at whoever had entered the room. It was Race.

"Hey," she said, still slightly groggy. "What time is it?"

"Almost five. You need to get some sleep, doll," said Race, sitting across from Eva, on the edge of Tommy's bed.

"I just did," she said.

"Real sleep," he said.

"I can't, I need to make dinner for the boys pretty soon," she said.

"Let Kloppman do it tonight," said Race.

"I need the money," she shook her head. "We need to get him to a doctor. Whatever he's got isn't going away. It just keeps getting worse. I'm terrified that it's pneumonia."

Race took her hand and gave it a squeeze.

"Will you keep an eye on him? I'm going to go throw something together for the boys."

Race nodded and took her spot in the chair.

* * *

Dodger walked in. "Eva?"

"Back here," said Eva, from the kitchen.

Dodger walked into the kitchen. "How's he doing?"

"Seems to be getting worse," she said. "Race is up there watching him now."

Dodger nodded. "How you holding up?" he asked, putting his arm around her.

"Fine," she said. "I'm too tired to be mad at you anymore." She smirked wryly up at him.

"Eva, I promise you, I never said anything to Spot about breaking up with you."

"I don't care anymore," said Eva. "I'll worry about me later. I just want Tommy to be okay."

"I'm going to go see him. Here's what I got for today, so we can get him a doctor," he said, laying a pile of coins on the table. Dodger started to walk out of the room.

"Joe?" said Eva.

"Yeah?"

"You think we should…tell Mother and Father?" she asked.

Dodger leaned against the counter, folding his arms. "Ma yes, Father, no," he said.

"We need to get him a doctor, and maybe they could help," she said.

"I don't want to go crawling back to them," he said. "When I walked out of that place, I promised never to go back. Besides, I doubt they have anything extra."

Eva nodded and turned back to the stove. Dodger walked out.

Dodger walked up the stairs to the bunkroom. He saw Race talking quietly with Tommy.

"Hey, buddy," Dodger smiled at Tommy.

"Hey," Tommy croaked out.

"You're looking better," Dodger said, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Yeah, I told him he's now the king of getting out of work," Race winked at Tommy.

Tommy grinned and tried to laugh, but it turned into a coughing fit. Dodger helped him sit up as Tommy coughed up into a handkerchief.

* * *

Later that evening, Dodger helped Race get Tommy down the stairs, so his coughing wouldn't disturb the other newsies too much.

Eva stoked the fire as they settled Tommy on the couch with a blanket.

"I think I'm going to stay here tonight," said Dodger.

"You sure?" asked Eva, standing up right and turning around.

Dodger nodded. "Yeah," he said. "It hasn't been just the three of us for a long time."

Eva smiled at him.

"Alright," said Race. "I'm gonna head up to bed."

"Night, Race," said Eva. "Thanks for your help."

"Any time," Race smiled.

Eva and Dodger stayed up with Tommy. They played cards, Eva read to them, and Eva and Dodger helped Tommy when he had coughing fits.

The next morning, Race came down and saw the siblings still on the couches. Dodger was lying on one, and Tommy was lying against Eva on the other one.

He bought his papes and headed to Brooklyn, selling along the way.

By the time he reached Spot's dock, he'd sold out. He saw Spot up on his usual spot.

"Hey Spot," he said, throwing his cigarette in the harbor.

"Hey Race," said Spot. "How's it goin'?"

"Not bad," said Race. "Hey, I got a question for you. About Eva."

Spot shook his head. "Whatever it is, I don't want to talk about it."

"Come on," said Race. "You gotta know how tore up that girl has been over this. What happened?"

"None of your damn business, Racetrack," said Spot.

"Well, I'll at least let you know Tommy's sick," said Race. "It's looking pretty bad."

"What's he sick with?" Spot asked.

"She thinks it might be pneumonia," said Race.

Spot was quiet for a bit. "How's Eva doing with it?" he asked.

"Same as you'd expect," said Race. "Taking care of Tommy, running herself ragged. Trying to get over you while Tommy sleeps."

Spot sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Look, let me just say what I came here to say, and I'll be gone," said Race.

"Fine," Spot sighed.

"That girl is the best thing that could ever happen to you," said Race. "And she loved you. You had the greatest thing, and you just threw it away. I hope you hate yourself as much as I hate you for breaking her heart." Race turned around and walked away.

* * *

Eva heard voices downstairs and footsteps coming up the creaking stairs. She stood up and walked to the entrance of the bunkroom. She saw Spot walk in with a man. Eva froze. All at once she her chest tightened, her head was light, and butterflies fluttered in her stomach.

"Spot. What are you doing here?" asked Eva.

"This is Dr. Gershowitz," said Spot. "He's here to see Tommy."

"You must be Eva," said the doctor, extending his hand.

"Yes," said Eva, distractedly. "Pleasure to meet you. Tommy is this way."

Tommy had woken, hearing the noise in the room.

"Hello, young man," said the doctor, sitting on the edge of the bed. "How are you feeling today?"

"Not good," croaked Tommy.

"How long has this been going on?" the doctor asked Eva.

"He started out with a sore throat last week," said Eva. "It got worse a couple days later, and he's been like this for a couple days."

"Open wide," said the doctor, getting the tongue depressor out.

He asked Tommy and Eva questions about Tommy's symptoms, how long he'd been sick, and what started it.

"Well, it sounds like he has a respiratory infection," said the doctor, finally. "With plenty of fluids and rest, it should go away on its own."

"Really?" asked Eva, hopeful.

"Yes," said Dr. Gershowitz. "Coughing up all that's in his lungs will help too. It's cold, but humid out. In the evenings, I suggest bundling up and sitting on the roof or the porch and breathing the cool, moist air. That will help clear his lungs. It will be unpleasant, but helpful. Lots of water and soup too."

"Doctor, thank you so much," said Eva.

"My pleasure," he said, smiling. "If he doesn't improve in a couple days with this treatment, come find me. My practice is a couple blocks away. Mr. Conlon here knows where to find me."

"Thanks again, Doc," said Spot.

The doctor put his hat back on. "I'll see myself out." He tipped his hat and walked downstairs.

Eva looked at Spot, trying to figure out what to say. All that came out was, "How? And why?"

"I take care of my own," he said.

"That doesn't answer my question," she said. She pulled Spot downstairs so Tommy could rest.

"I haven't seen you in two weeks. The last time we spoke you couldn't even look at me," she said. "You broke my heart, and the only reason I'm not mad right now is…well, you did the impossible. How and why did you do it?"

Spot hooked his thumbs on his pockets. "I like Tommy," he said. "He's a good kid, and he means a lot to you and Dodger. As for how," he shrugged, "I know people."

"I still don't know what to say," said Eva. "The last time I saw you, you acted like you couldn't stand me anymore; like you hated me, and wanted nothing more than for me to be out of your life."

Spot sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Look, I…don't want you out of my life." He sighed. "I may have made a mistake."

Eva sighed, tears filling her eyes. "Unbelievable," she said, walking over to the counter and leaning on it. "You can't do this Spot."

"Do what?" he asked, walking over.

"You can't expect me to just fall in your arms again," she said. "I've spent the last two weeks crying over you, and slowly beginning to hate you. I can't just flip a switch."

"Fair enough," said Spot. "Maybe…sometime in the future, we could…"

Eva looked at him. Spot winced, seeing the tears rolling down her cheeks. The tears he caused. "I don't know." She sighed. "Right now I'm worried, sleep-deprived, and broke. I've got a lot of other things on my mind."

"I'll keep an eye on Tommy," said Spot. "You got get some sleep. In your own bed."

"No," said Eva. "It's fine. You go back to Brooklyn."

"Please? Let me do this for you," said Spot.

Eva sighed. "Okay," she said. "But only because I haven't slept in two days." She walked off to her bedroom. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

Eva didn't wake up until the church bells rang the next morning. She stretched, feeling more awake and refreshed than she had in days. She sat up, running her hands through her hair a few times to straighten out the tangles. She stood up, stretched again, and walked out into the lobby of the lodging house.

Tommy, Dodger, and Spot were asleep on the couches. Spot was on one couch, and on the opposite couch, Tommy was leaning against Dodger.

As much as Spot had broken her heart, a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth to think he stayed up at night with Tommy.

She heard Kloppman wake the boys upstairs and soon heard footsteps coming down the stairs. She looked up and saw Race walk into the lobby. He saw the boys on the couches and tensed up.

"Hey," he said quietly. "What's he doing here?"

"Hey," said Eva. She jerked her head towards the kitchen and Race followed her in.

"What's Spot doing here?" Race repeated.

"Spot just showed up out of nowhere with a doctor," said Eva. "He offered to keep an eye on Tommy while I napped. It turned into a little more than a nap, though." She chuckled.

"You needed it," said Race. "You doing okay? With him around?"

Eva sighed. "I thought I was over him," she said. "I was really starting to hate him for how he treated me, but when I saw him again, and he brought a doctor, then he told me he wanted me back…"

"He what?" asked Race.

"Yeah," said Eva. "He said he made a mistake—no, he said he 'may have' made a mistake, and wanted to know if there was a future possibility for us."

"Wow," said Race. "What did you say?"

Eva shook her head. "Not right now," she said. "I need to figure out how I feel. Right now I'm torn between wanting to punch him and wanting to kiss him."

* * *

Spot woke up in the same position as he fell asleep in. He stretched, massaging the crick in his neck. He checked the clock and figured he'd better get back to Brooklyn. He was about to leave when he heard voices in the kitchen. He could tell one of them was Eva's. He quietly snuck close enough that he could hear better, and see who she was talking to. He saw Eva pouring her heart out to Race, and her voice was wavering like she was trying not to cry.

Spot clenched his fists, holding the strong emotions at bay. All at once, he felt jealous, possessive, and angry. He quietly snuck out of the lodging house and headed back to Brooklyn.

* * *

_Author's Note: Love it? Hate it? Not your cup of tea? Drop me a review below and let me know!_


	15. An Unexpected Visitor

The rain was coming down in torrents outside. The Manhattan Lodging House had a roaring fire, and all the newsies were in the lobby. The younger newsies were playing marbles on the floor and some newsies were lounging about. Race was showing Eva a card game on the counter.

"It's called hi-low," said Race. He dealt a card face up, and four cards face down, all in a row. "You're gonna tell me if you think this card," he pointed to the first face-down card, "is higher or lower than this card. Aces are high." Race pointed to the face-up card. It was a 5 of diamonds.

"Higher," said Eva.

Race flipped the card over. It was a jack of spades. "Good job!" He grinned. "Now this one," he pointed to the next face down card. "It is higher or lower than the jack?"

"Lower," Eva guessed.

Race flipped it over to reveal a 10 of hearts. "You're on a roll! This one? Higher or lower than the 10?"

"Lower," said Eva.

Race flipped it over to reveal a king. "Too bad," said Race. He gathered up the cards.

"Do people play this for money?" she asked.

"Sure," nodded Race, shuffling the deck. "This is the first card game I learned."

"And so it began," Eva chuckled.

"Go fish?" Race asked, dealing the cards.

"Finally, a game I can win," Eva grinned, picking up her cards. She pointed at Race. "No cheating this time."

"Me?" Race feigned innocence. Eva grinned.

A cold rush of air blew into the room as the front door opened and a soaking wet Spot Conlon walked in.

"Hey!" said a newsie at the shock of the cold.

"Close the door!" yelled another.

Eva sighed. "Why can't he just stay away?" she whispered. Race patted her arm.

"Spot!" Tommy grinned.

"Hey there," he said. "You're looking better."

"I feel a lot better," he said.

"Good," he grinned.

He walked over to the counter. "Hey Race," he said. "Hey Eva."

"Hi," said Eva, not looking at him.

Race glanced at her, then at Spot. "Hey Spot," he said. "What brings you to this side of the bridge?"

"I was hoping I could talk to Eva," said Spot, looking at her.

Eva looked up at Race, who gave an imperceptible shrug.

"Fine," she said. "We can go in the kitchen."

Eva slid off the stool and walked into the kitchen. Spot followed Eva into the kitchen.

"What do you want?" Eva asked.

Spot took a deep breath. "I wanted to know if you would go with me again," he said.

"What, now? It's pouring out," said Eva.

"No, not now," said Spot, trying to put on a smile. "We could walk up to the Park, grab some lunch tomorrow. Or go to our place by the bridge."

"Spot…" she sighed.

Race poked his head in the kitchen. "Eva, you might want to come see this," he said.

Eva rushed into the lobby, Spot hot on her heels. "What? What is it?"

She followed the gaze of all the newsies in the room, who were fixed on a little girl, soaking wet, and standing in the doorway of the lodging house. Her blonde hair was plastered to her shoulders, with a few stray strands sticking to her face.

"Sally," said Eva, rushing over and kneeling down to Sally's level.

"Eva!" said Sally. Eva knelt down as Sally threw her arms around Eva's neck.

"Sweetie, what are you doing here?" Eva smoothed Sally's hair.

"Mama told me to come find you," said Sally, pulling back a bit.

"Why? Is something wrong? Did something happen?"

"Mama needs money," said Sally. "We can't get food, and we're going to get kicked out in a month." Sally began to tear up. "Papa said that it's because of you three, and they say I'm going to have to go work in a factory, so we can have enough money to buy food for Mama and the twins." She began to sob.

Eva pulled her close, rubbing her back. "Sweetie, you're not going to have to work in a factory, okay? I promise. Come on, let's get you dry in my room." She stood up and took Sally's hand. "Will some one go find Dodger?"

Eva took Sally into her room and closed the door as Spot ran out of the lodging house.

"It's all my fault," said Tommy.

Race looked at him. "No, it's not," said Race.

"Yeah it is," said Tommy. "I was the last one to leave. I left her all alone with Mama and Father."

Race moved to sit next to Tommy. "Listen, you were in a bad situation. You needed to do what was best for you."

"But at what cost?"

Race looked at him. "Kid, you are too young to have to worry about this kind of stuff."

* * *

Eva handed Sally one of her shirts. Sally took her wet clothes off and dried off. Eva's shirt was like a nightgown on Sally.

Eva took the towel and began squeezing Sally's hair to dry it as much as possible.

"What happened at home?" Eva asked.

"Father was mad for a long time after you left. Now he won't even talk about you and he can't work, and we ran out of all the credit at the store."

"Why can't Father work?"

"He got his leg crushed in the factory," said Eva. "He has to sit at home all day, and now he drinks a lot."

Eva closed her eyes and sat down on her bed. Sally crawled into her lap and hugged her. Eva held Sally close. "I'm going to take care of you," said Eva. "I don't want you to worry, okay? Everything is going to be okay."

Eva could feel Sally relax in her arms, the weight of her world finally off her tiny shoulders. At the same time, Eva could almost feel the worry and stress flow into her. "I love you, Eva."

"I love you too, sweetie."

"Will you come back?" asked Sally. "You all left me. Papa said it was because you didn't love me, but Mama said I should try and see you."

"We did abandon you, didn't we?" Eva said. "Sally, I'm so sorry. We do love you, so much."

Sally rested her head against Eva. "Can I stay with you tonight?"

"Of course, you can share my bed." Eva kissed the top of her head.

There was a knock on the door. "It's Joseph."

"Come in," said Eva.

Dodger opened the door. He was soaking wet, dripping all over the floor. Behind him, Eva could see Spot wet all over again, closing the door to the lodging house.

"Joseph!" Sally squealed, running to him.

"Hey, Sally-bug!" he said, picking her up and hugging her.

"You're all wet!" Sally giggled. Dodger planted a big kiss on her cheek.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Mama told me to come find you," said Sally.

"I'll tell you later," Eva mouthed over Sally's head. Dodger nodded imperceptibly at Eva.

"Well, I'm glad she did," he smiled. "I've missed you."

Tommy appeared in the doorway. "Eva, can I sleep with Sally?" Tommy asked.

"Of course," Eva smiled.

Tommy and Sally got into Eva's bed, and Eva and Dodger tucked them in, giving them a kiss goodnight each.

"Sleep well, you two," she said.

They were each asleep before Eva closed the door. By this time, many of the newsies had gone up to the bunkroom. Race was sitting on the couch, and Spot was sitting in the corner. Eva sat down on the couch, across from Dodger and next to Race.

"So what's going on?" asked Dodger.

"You want me to go?" asked Race.

"No," said Eva, putting her hand on Race's arm. "You're practically family."

Eva sighed and told Dodger all that Sally told her. Before long, she was in tears under the stress of it all. Spot made a move to comfort her, but stopped himself when Race put his arm around her. Spot clenched his jaw, but stayed where he was.

"What are we going to do?" she asked.

Dodger sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "We can't turn our backs on Sally, Mama, and the babies."

"We gotta go over there tomorrow," she said.

Dodger nodded. "I don't know how much we can help them, though," he said.

"What if Tommy moved back? Then they'd have his income…I could see if I could work a little more for Mr. Lagorio," said Eva.

"You work hard enough as it is," said Race.

"I can't let our family get kicked out of their apartment," she said.

"We'll go tomorrow after I sell the morning edition," said Dodger. "I'll stay here tonight."

"You can take Tommy's bunk for tonight," said Eva.

"Where are you gonna sleep?" asked Dodger.

"I'll just stay here on the couch," said Eva.

"Okay," said Dodger, standing up. "Don't stay up all night worrying, okay?"

Eva grinned. "Okay."

Dodger looked up and saw Spot still sitting there. "You wanna stay here tonight, Spot? They've got extra bunks."

"Might as well," said Spot. "Don't really feel like getting wet all over again."

Dodger clapped him on the shoulder, and they walked up the stairs. Spot threw a glance behind him at Race and Eva on the couch.

"You want to be alone right now?" Race asked.

"Not really," she said. "But if you want to get to bed, I understand. You gotta be up early."

"No, it's fine," said Race.

The two sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes.

"Spot asked me out again," she said.

Race looked at her. "What did you tell him?"

"I didn't have a chance to answer," said Eva. "That's when Sally came in."

"What do you want to do?" asked Race.

Eva sighed and rested her head back. "I don't know," she said. "What do you think of all this?"

Race shook his head. "It's not my place to tell you what to do."

"You're not telling me what to do, I want to know what you think."

"Well," said Race. "On the one hand, I've seen how he is with women. He goes through them like nobody's business. On the other hand, I've never seen him pursue a girl like he does you. Spot Conlon doesn't ask for second chances. He just moves on to the next girl."

Eva sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. "I'll have to worry about that after tomorrow," she said.


	16. Opportunity of a Lifetime

Eva and Dodger walked down the street toward Tibby's. They walked in and saw Race, Blink, and Mush eating lunch.

"Hey!" Mush waved them over.

"Hey, how did it go?" Race asked.

"Okay," said Dodger. "Pop's in bad shape. His leg got crushed, and he just sits at home while Sally and Ma work."

"How did his leg get crushed? I thought he worked in management," said Race.

"He did," said Eva. "But he decided to be an ass and try to work a machine he wasn't supposed to."

"Where's Tommy?" Blink asked.

"He moved back home," said Dodger. "He'll still be selling every day, but he'll be stayin' at home. Between his wages, Ma's wages, what Sally makes from her sewing, and Eva and I are each pitching in," he glanced at Eva, "they should be okay."

"How do you know your pop isn't going to waste it all again?" Race asked.

"Well, that's the one bright spot in all this," said Dodger. "They're desperate, so we've got the upper hand. We agreed to help them under the condition that Eva handles and manages all the money. Father can't touch a thing."

"That's good," said Race.

"Would be better if that man hadn't gotten them into this position in the first place," said Eva.

* * *

A couple days later, Spot came to the Manhattan lodging house. Eva was sweeping the floor in the lobby.

"Hey there," he said, leaning against the doorjamb.

Eva looked up, surprised. "Hi," she said. "What are you doing here?"

"I know you've had a rough couple of days," said Spot. "Just wanted to make sure everything's okay."

"Yeah," said Eva. "Everything got worked out. Tommy moved back home, I'm helping them out with a few things."

"It's nice how much you care about your family," said Spot. "I know it's hard for you, but I can tell you're very loyal."

"Thanks," said Eva. "I feel like I've caused more harm than good, though."

Spot shook his head. "Nah," he said. "Nothing that can't be fixed. You know, I see where Dodger gets it now."

"Gets what?" she asked.

"His loyalty, his willingness to fight for and protect the newsies," Spot said. "I see that same fire in you when you talk about your family."

"He loves being a newsie," said Eva. "I think it gave him the sense of family he never really felt at home."

There was an awkward pause.

"Spot, I know why you're here," she said.

Spot nodded.

Just then, a horse-drawn carriage pulled up in front of the lodging house. Eva looked past Spot, and Spot turned around.

A well-dressed Italian man stepped out of the carriage.

"That's my boss," said Eva, walking out past Spot. "Mr. Lagorio," she greeted him.

Mr. Lagorio walked up to her. "Hello, Eva," he said, smiling. He extended his hand and she shook it politely. He nodded at Spot.

"Mr. Lagorio, how can I help you?"

"I haven't been around the past few times you've come in to work, and there's something I'd like to discuss with you," he said.

"Of course," said Eva. "Would you like to come in?"

"Thank you," said Mr. Lagorio. The three of them walked inside and sat down. "I will be departing for Europe in a week, and was interested to know if you would like to accompany me."

Eva was speechless for a moment. "Me?" she said.

Mr. Lagorio nodded. "Yes," he said. "You are a good employee, and I feel like good employees should be rewarded. Not to mention, I'm led to understand you've given more than your fair share for your family."

"I don't know what to say," Eva said, still stunned.

"I am offering you a once in a lifetime opportunity. On this trip to Europe, I would like to employ you not only as my housekeeper, and help keep my social calendar, but I would like you to accompany me to society functions. You will make connections that will change your life. And upon our return, you will have earned enough money so neither you, nor your brothers will ever go hungry again."

Eva couldn't believe it. What had she done to deserve this streak of luck. "Why me?"

"Well, a man of my position has certain expectations thrust upon them. One of which is being in the company of young ladies, but I am far too busy to be in any romantic entanglements."

"Wait a minute here," Spot interjected. "You're not asking her to do what I think you're asking her."

"Spot!" said Eva.

"No, no," said Mr. Lagorio. "Just to accompany me to functions. Nothing outside of that."

"How long?" Eva asked.

"At least eight months," said Mr. Lagorio. "Although that's a minimum. I could be there up to fourteen months."

"I don't know what to say," said Eva, still in shock.

Mr. Lagorio smiled. "I know, it's sudden," he said. "You can call on me at my house. You know where that is, of course. I'd like to have your answer by Thursday. I will be leaving Saturday morning."

"I will let you know, thank you," said Eva.

Mr. Lagorio shook Eva's hand and Spot's as well and walked out. They heard the crack of a whip and the clip-clop of horse hooves on the street recede into the distance.

"I can't believe it," said Eva, looking at Spot. "Fourteen months. I can't imagine being gone for over a year."

"This is what you've wanted, though," said Spot. "More money than you could have dreamed of."

"I can't just think of me," said Eva. "I've got the lodging house that would need taking care of, I've been helping Kloppman out a lot more, since he can't do as much, some one needs to look after Dodger and the family."

"The lodging house took care of itself before you came along," said Spot. "And Dodger can take care of your family. We all know you've been the one carrying that burden for a lot longer."

"You sound like you want me to go," said Eva.

"I don't," said Spot. "But I want you to be happy."

Eva looked at him. It still hurt to look at him – hate, desire, anger, and love all swirled around inside her heart.

"I can't leave right now," said Eva. "My family needs me."

"If this job were offered to you, but it was to go to Boston or Philadelphia instead of overseas, would you take it?"

"In a heartbeat," said Eva.

"Well…" said Spot, shrugging.

"If I went, I would be set for life," she said. "And I could always wire money home. And it would be neat to see more than just New York."

"It sounds like you've got your answer," said Spot.

Eva looked at him. "I guess so."

"Look me up when you get back in town?" he asked.

Eva looked at him, her slow, burning hatred for him slowly extinguishing. But she didn't say anything. Spot looked at her for a while. "Well, I better be getting back to Brooklyn," he said, standing up. "Can I come by Friday night before you leave?"

Eva nodded. "I'd like that," she said. Spot turned around and headed out. "Spot," she stopped him.

He turned around. Eva walked up to him and hugged him. Spot closed his eyes and held her tight. She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you Friday," he said.

With that, he turned and walked out.


	17. Breaking the News

That week was the most emotionally exhausting week Eva had ever experienced.

First, she had to tell Dodger…

"You're leaving?" Dodger asked, looking something like a lost puppy.

Eva nodded. "I'll be back," she said. "But it might not be for more than a year." Dodger sat down on an up-turned crate, in shock. "I promise I'll write, and I can wire money, if you ever need it."

"I don't care about the money," said Dodger. "Where all are you going?"

"Well, Mr. Lagorio has factories overseas that he needs to check in on, and he's working to set up some new ones. He dabbles in some other businesses he needs to be around for."

"What does he need you for?" Eva frowned. "That came out wrong…but you know what I mean."

"Well, I'll be partly housekeeping for him, partly acting as an assistant, and accompanying him to social functions."

Dodger sighed, letting it all sink in. "Who all have you told?"

"You're the first," she said. "Well, Spot knows, but only because he was right there when Mr. Lagorio showed up. I thought about not going, because of everything that's happened recently—"

"No," Dodger shook his head. "You have to go." Eva smiled at him. Dodger stood up and hugged her. "I'll come by on Friday night to say goodbye."

* * *

Then she had to tell her family…

"No!" said Sally, jumping up and clinging to Eva.

"You can't leave us!" said Tommy, holding on to her side.

"I'm happy for you, dear, this is a great opportunity," said her mother.

"You're finally going to make something of yourself...a good example to set for your brothers," said her father, gruffly.

* * *

Then Kloppman…

"Don't you worry about us, dear," said Kloppman. "Although I do hope you will look us up when you get back in town."

"Of course I will," she smiled, giving him a hug.

* * *

Finally, she had to tell Race…

"A year?" Race asked, sitting down.

Eva nodded and sat down next to him. "Could be less…could be a little more." The sun was setting over the Manhattan skyline. They had a great view of it from atop the Lodging House roof.

Race took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair. "When are you leaving?"

Eva swallowed. "Early Saturday morning," she said.

"That's two days away!"

"I know," said Eva, with a pained expression. "I'm sorry I waited so long to tell you, it's just…I wasn't sure how to. And I really don't want to say goodbye to you. You're my best friend."

Race sighed. "As much as I don't want you to go…I'm happy for you."

Eva gave him a small smile. "Thank you. And I need you to do me a favor."

"Anything," said Race.

Eva handed him a small pouch of coins. "Make sure Dodger, Sally, and Tommy don't go hungry," she said.

Race shook his head. "Eva, you shouldn't trust me with that," he said.

"I do," she said, shoving it into his hands. "I trust you, Race. I know you won't let anything happen to my family."

Race looked down at the small pouch of coins. "I won't let you down, Eva," he said.

Eva smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Deep down, Eva knew she couldn't trust Race with money. But she had hope. She hoped her trust in him would keep him from doing anything compulsive with the money.

"I'm gonna miss you," he said, enveloping her in a hug.

"I'll miss you too," she said, holding onto him. "I promise I'll write."

Race's mind was spinning. Finally, he pulled back. "Eva, there's somethin' I need to tell you."

"What is it?" Eva asked.

There was a lengthy pause, while Race got his nerve up. Race cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. He kissed her for all the times he'd wanted to in the past. He kissed her for every time he saw her with Spot and he burned with jealousy. He kissed her for every time he hoped to kiss her in the future.

After a moment, he felt her kissing him back, making his stomach flip-flop.

He pulled away, and saw she had tears in her eyes.

"I guess I couldn't just have you leave without you knowing," said Race. "And who knows…you may get over there and love it so much you'll wanna stay. I don't know when I'm gonna see you again."

"I'm coming back," said Eva. "I promise." Race was silent. "How come didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I was gonna," said Race. "But I'm no good for you. If we'd ended up together, I would've never been able to take care of you like I should be able to. The way Spot took care of you. I told myself that once I'd paid you back for everything, then I'd ask you out. But then Spot asked you. And then Spot dumped you, and I wasn't sure what to do at that point. But I never stopped lovin' you."

* * *

Friday night, Eva was in her room, packing what little she had. Spot walked into the lodging house and nodded to the few newsies that were lounging around. He saw Eva's door was open. He looked in and saw her packing the few things she had into a bag.

"So you're really leaving?" he asked, leaning against the doorjamb.

"Did you think I wouldn't go through with it?" she asked.

Spot shrugged. "Honestly? I kind of hoped you wouldn't." Eva turned and looked at him. "So what about you and Race?"

Eva went back to packing. "How'd you hear about that?" asked Eva.

Spot shrugged. "I hear stuff."

Eva rolled her eyes. "There's not much 'me and Race' to worry about," she said. "I'm leaving."

"You gonna see him when you get back in town?" Spot asked.

"I'm going to see everyone when I get back in town."

"You know what I mean."

Eva sighed and closed her eyes. "I don't know," she said. "I don't even know when I'll be back."

"What about me?" Spot asked.

"I don't know," she repeated. "With all that time and space away from everyone here…I don't know what I'm going to do when I get back. I may meet a gentleman over there, you never know."

Spot walked to her side and took one of her hands. "Please don't go," said Spot softly.

"A week ago, you were giving me a list of reasons to go," she frowned. "You wanted me to be happy. Several weeks ago, you were dumping me because you thought something like this was gonna happen."

"And I was right," said Spot. "But I was wrong to dump you. I want you to be with me."

Eva looked up at him. "Spot, this is the opportunity of a lifetime," she said. "I have to go. When I come back, I'll be set."

"Stay here with me," he repeated.

"Spot…" she started, but was cut off by him kissing her.

All the familiar sensations came back to Eva. The feel and smell of him, the safety she felt when she was with him, and she warm feeling of being loved. Before she realized it, she was reciprocating, and felt herself wanting to stay in New York, and stay with him.

But then something in her mind switched back and she pushed him away, tears in her eyes. It was the second time in as many days a guy's kiss had made her cry, but for very different reasons.

"Get out," Eva said softly.

Spot was taken aback. "What?" he asked.

Eva put her hands against his chest and pushed him out of the room and slammed the door. He could hear Eva softly sobbing through the door.

"Wow," said a voice behind him. Spot turned around and saw Race standing there with Dodger. "Are you that bad of a kisser?"

Spot glared at him and walked out of the lodging house, wanting to get away from everyone and everything.

Dodger knocked on her door.

"Go away, Spot!" she said.

"It's Dodger," he said, opening the door. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, and I don't want to talk about it," she said, wiping her eyes.

"Fair enough," said Dodger, nodding and walking away.

Race walked up after Dodger walked away. "Got a minute, Eva?" he asked.

"Sure," she said. Race walked into the room.

"Will you wake me up in the morning before you leave?" Race asked.

Eva looked up at him and shook her head. "No," she said. "This right here is hard enough."

Race nodded. "Before you left, I wanted to give you this," said Race, pulling out a small worn box from his pocket.

"What is it?" she asked, taking the box, looking up at him.

Race shrugged. "Just something I want you to have," he said. "So you don't go forgettin' about me." He smiled wryly.

Eva smiled and opened the box. Inside was a beautiful ivory cameo brooch. "Oh my god," she said. "Race, this is…this is too much. How did you…"

"It was my mother's," said Race. "That's all I have of her."

"I can't take this," said Eva. "This is too special to you."

Race shook his head. "No, I want you to have it. Think of it as a loan. That way when you get back into town, you have to find me." He gave her a wink.

Eva walked up to him and kissed him on the cheek. Race pulled her into a hug. "I was planning on finding you anyway," she said.

Eva closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder. She didn't want to forget anything about him – the color of his eyes, his playful smirk, or the smell of stale cigar smoke on his clothes.

"I should let you get to bed," said Race. "You gotta be up early."

Eva nodded. "Goodnight, Race. I'll see you when I get back."

Race nodded, unable to answer. He turned away and walked out. "Eva?" he said at the door. Eva turned around. "You always made sure I was okay, just like your own brothers," said Race. "I'll never forget that."

Eva smiled at him. "Like I've said, you're practically family."


	18. One Last Goodbye

_Author's Note: We've got a double upload tonight, folks! Two short chapters, but I hope you enjoy them!_

* * *

The church bells rang out, waking Eva up for the last time. She opened her eyes, and stretched. It was here. Her last morning in New York. She got up and did her usual morning routine, treasuring every mundane moment about it.

She heard some one come down the stairs, and soon, Dodger was standing in the doorway.

"Good," he said. "I was afraid you'd already left."

Eva smiled. "He'll be here any minute."

"I'm gonna miss you," he said.

"I'll miss you too," she said. "Do me a favor?"

"I'll make sure nothing happens to our family. I promise."

"I know you will," said Eva. "But I was talking about Race and Spot. Just keep an eye on them. Spot may have pissed me off, but he's still…"

Dodger nodded. "I know. I will."

"I'm glad you're the only one I have to say goodbye to this morning," she said. "This is hard enough."

Dodger nodded and pulled her into a hug. They heard the clip-clop of horse hooves outside the house.

"That's him," she said, standing up. Dodger grabbed her bag and walked with her out of the room. He walked her outside.

"Good morning, Eva," said Mr. Lagorio, stepping out of the carriage.

"Good morning, Mr. Lagorio," she smiled. "This is my brother, Joseph."

Mr. Lagorio and Joseph shook hands.

"I've heard a lot about you," said Mr. Lagorio.

"Take good care of her," said Dodger.

"I promise," said Mr. Lagorio. He stepped aside, so Eva and Dodger could say their goodbyes.

"Okay, this is it," she said, standing in front of Dodger. "Goodbye, Joseph."

Dodger pulled her close. "Goodbye, Eva."

Eva stepped into the carriage and they were off to the docks. She watched the Lodging House and Dodger fade into the distance, until they turned the corner.

Eva turned to face front and took a deep breath, ready to face her new life.

* * *

Dodger sat down on the couch, staring out the window.

"Is she gone?" asked a voice.

Dodger tore his eyes away from the window to face Race. He nodded. "Yeah, she's gone," he said.

Race sat down next to Dodger. "Do you really think she'll come back?" he asked.

"I hope so."


	19. Letters Home

May 2, 1900

Dear Tommy & Sally,

How are you? How is the family? We just disembarked in London. It feels so good to be on land after two weeks at sea. London is very bleak, but has its own sort of beauty at the same time.

You would never believe how Mr. Lagorio lives. His apartment in Manhattan has got nothing on this ship. First, he got us FIRST CLASS tickets. I'm pretty sure the china we eat off every night is worth more than what I make in a week from working. It is incredible. And people just lounge around all day. There's a library on the ship, so I've been reading a lot. Some times I will take a walk around the decks. I feel so bad for the people down in third class. Those are the people I feel like I am. I just have some one bankrolling my trip over here.

It has only been a couple weeks, but I miss you all dearly. I hope everything is okay. Please let me know if you lack anything. I can wire money, if you need it. How are Ma and the babies?

Love you both,

Eva

* * *

May 23, 1900

Dear Eva,

Tommy and Sally showed me the letter you wrote. We're so happy you're having a good time. We miss you, though. Not much to report around here. It's all business as usual.

Race is doing good. He says to tell you hi. He really misses you too. You'd be proud of him. He hasn't been to the track since you left. He and Tommy sell together every day. He and Tumbler walk Sally to and from the grocery store every day. We think Tumbler has a little crush on Sally. It's pretty cute. I can see Tommy getting a little protective over her too. It's like you, me, and Spot all over again.

I've been taking care of Father and Mother and the twins too. Father isn't as bad as he used to be – mostly because he knows we've got the upper hand. He needs us, now. He was drinking a lot for a while there, but now they're all out of alcohol in the house, and I won't let him buy more.

We love you, Eva.

Dodger, Tommy, and Sally

* * *

June 7, 1900

Race,

I hope this letter finds you well. I've been hearing how you've been helping take care of Tommy and Sally, and I want you to know that means the world to me. You have been such a good friend to my family and me ever since we became friends.

I wear your mother's brooch often, and I am taking very good care of it. I think of you every morning when I put it on, and every evening when I take it off. It means a lot that you've trusted me with such a precious thing.

If you ever need anything, please let me know.

Thinking of you,

Yours,

Eva

* * *

October 4, 1900

Eva,

I don't know what you wrote to Race in your letter to him, but he's got a spring in his step every time I see him.

I have some horrible news. There was a fire in Ma and Father's apartment building. Tommy and Sally are okay – they're here at the Lodging House with us. Unfortunately, Ma, Father, and the twins didn't make it. I couldn't believe it when I went to drop Tommy off that night. It happened in the afternoon. There was a gas leak from the lamps installed in the hallway. Someone went to relight, and there was a big explosion.

Luckily, Tommy was out selling, and Sally was at the Lodging House. Kloppman had hired her to help out around the place a little. I thought about bringing them to Brooklyn, but they wanted to be somewhere familiar. Race does a good job looking after her, and of course wherever she is, Tumbler ain't far away. I stay in Manhattan most of the time now – they need to be near family.

I'm not gonna sugar coat it. We really miss you. It has been hard to go through this without you. There's nothing left of our old life, Eva. It's all gone. Even though we hadn't lived there, and didn't like being there, I still feel like we lost a lot.

We really miss you, Eva. We're happy you're off having a great adventure, but we can't wait to see you again.

All the guys say hi. Mush had a question about French girls, but out of common decency, I couldn't write it out to ask you.

Love you,

Dodger, Tommy, and Sally

* * *

November 16, 1900

Dodger,

I hope you got the money I wired. I'm sure the snow has already begun to fall in New York, and I'm sure Tommy and Sally don't have any winter clothes. Take them and buy them a good pair of winter boots and a new coat each. With anything left over get some good clothes for the other kids.

I'm glad Race is doing well. How is Spot doing? In spite of everything that happened between him and me, I even sort of miss him. Apparently 5,000 miles of distance can't get him out of my head. Him or Race. But I'm sure you don't want to hear about all that.

It's looking like I will be back in town early next year. It will be strange having Thanksgiving without you – even though they don't have Thanksgiving over here. And Christmas without you…

Give the kids my love,

Eva


	20. Homecoming

February 23, 1901

Eva walked out of her stateroom onto her private deck and smiled as she saw the Statue of Liberty pass by them. She looked toward the bow of the ship and saw the tip of Manhattan: home. She walked back into her room and double-checked that she had everything she needed. She had her paperwork to show she was an American citizen so she wouldn't have to go through immigration; she had her suitcases filled with the clothes Lagorio had bought for her.

There was a knock on her door. She opened it.

"Mr. Lagorio," said Eva.

"We'll be disembarking soon," he said. "I wanted to thank you for all your help these past months."

"Are you kidding?" asked Eva. "I'm the one who should be thanking you. You have completely turned my life around."

"You earned it," Mr. Lagorio smiled. "Now, if I'm not mistaken, I have yet to give you your salary for the last ten months."

Eva was dumbstruck. "Wha—I'm sorry?"

Mr. Lagorio smiled warmly. "Like any good employer, I fed and sheltered you, provided you with the appropriate clothes, but have yet to give you your wages." He handed her a full envelope.

"Oh my gosh," said Eva.

"In there is also the addresses of a couple of the socialite friends you made," said Mr. Lagorio. "You remember they wanted you to look them up when you got back into town."

"Thank you," she said, looking down at the envelope. "Do you think I should keep pretending? I mean, what if they find out who I really am…where I really come from?"

"We all have our secrets," said Mr. Lagorio. "You helped me keep mine, and I helped you keep yours. Every one you met has their own big secret hidden behind dollar signs. Just remember – you don't have to prove anything to anyone, or pretend to be anything you're not."

"Thanks," she smiled.

"If you don't mind my asking," said Mr. Lagorio, "and if I'm not mistaken, you were a bit torn between two young men before you left. Any idea on what you're going to do?"

Eva shook her head. "Not a clue," she said. "I'm hoping when I see them, I'll just…know."

Disembarking on Ellis Island, breezing through immigration, and hopping on a ferry to Battery Park, Mr. Lagorio and Eva climbed into a carriage that was waiting for them.

"Where can I take you?" asked Mr. Lagorio, as the carriage started off. "I can arrange for you to have a hotel until you find a place of your own."

"I appreciate it," said Eva. "But, if you don't mind, I think I'd like to go to the lodging house."

Mr Lagorio smiled softly and nodded. He gave instructions to the carriage driver.

Within minutes, Mr. Lagorio's carriage stopped on Duane Street.

Eva walked up the stoop of the lodging house and walked in as the driver unloaded her trunks. She smiled, looking around the lobby. Nothing had changed. It was empty at this time a day, with the afternoon edition hot off the presses. Kloppman obviously hadn't gotten anyone to replace her.

"Can I help you, Miss?" Kloppman asked, emerging from the office.

Eva turned and smiled at him. Kloppman's face lit up when he recognized her. "Oh, heavens!" He said, walking around the counter towards her.

"Hi, Kloppy," she said, hugging him.

"My word, you look like such a lady!" said Kloppman

Eva smiled. "Thank you," she said.

"Are you back for good?" he asked.

Eva nodded. "Yes," she said. "We docked this afternoon."

"Where are you staying?" he asked.

"Call me crazy, but I was hoping I could stay here," she said. "I'd be happy to work for you again."

"Well, your old room is exactly as you left it," said Kloppman. "It's yours, if you want it."

Eva smiled. "Thank you."

"Oh, what am I saying," said Kloppman. "Look at you! You're a lady now – you won't want to stay and clean up after a bunch of smelly boys…"

"We'll see," she smiled. "For right now, I want to find Race," she said. "Does he still sell in the same spot?"

"He's probably in Brooklyn checkin' up on Sally," said Kloppman. "I heard from one of the guys she got sick."

"Sick? Brooklyn? What are they doing in Brooklyn? Nevermind, I gotta go," said Eva. "Thanks, Kloppman," she called over her shoulder. She ran and hopped a trolley and two trolley changes later, walking three blocks, she arrived at the Brooklyn newsboys lodging house.

"Where is he?" she asked the handful of boys who were hanging around out front.

"Dear me, fellas, what do we have here?" said one she didn't recognize with a grin.

"Just shut up and tell me where Race or Dodger is," said Eva.

"I'll tell ya right now, none of them could give you what I could," the newsie said, standing up.

"You dope, that's Dodger's sister," said Slugger. He turned to Eva. "They're inside."

"Thanks," said Eva. She walked inside and saw a bunch of newsies hanging around, most notably, Spot Conlon sitting in the middle of the room, with a girl on his lap. Tommy was off to the side.

"Eva!" he said and ran up to her, hugging her.

"Hey!" she smiled, hugging him tightly.

"Eva," Spot said, as though he'd seen a ghost.

"Where are they?" she asked.

He pointed to the side room. She rushed in and saw two boys sitting on either side of a bed. Joseph was sitting on one side of the bunk, and Race was sitting on the other.

"What happened? How is she?" she said.

"Eva," said Race, looking up, surprised.

Eva rushed to Sally's side. She was asleep. She had small red spots all over her face and arms. She breathed a sigh of relief. "Chicken pox?"

"We think so," said Joseph. "Not a lot of the guys have had it, so we've been keeping her in here."

"To get it during the summer," said Eva. "That's gotta make it harder on her. We should put some cold cloths on her when she wakes. It'll help with the itching." Eva sat down at the foot of Sally's bed and breathed a sigh of relief. "Kloppman just told me she had been sick, I just assumed…"

"The worst," Joseph nodded, walking up behind her.

"Yeah," said Eva, looking up. She smiled. "Hi."

"Come here," grinned Joseph, pulling her into a hug so tight he lifted her off the ground. "I'm so glad you're back. We missed you."

"Me too," said Eva. "It's good to see you again. What are you all doing here? I thought you were living in Manhattan."

"We were visiting Brooklyn when Sally started not feeling well," he said. "We stayed one night, and the next morning she was really sick."

"It was nice that Jacob let you stay here," said Eva.

"Yeah, he's been great about it," said Joseph. He glanced at Race. "I'm gonna go see about that water and cloths," he said, walking out.

Eva turned and faced Race. "Hey, stranger," she said.

"Hey," Race grinned, standing up. He pulled her into a tight hug. As Race loosened his hug, he noticed she was still holding on tightly to him. He kissed her cheek and held her again, enjoying the feel of her in his arms. Finally, they pulled away.

"I missed you," she said quietly.

"I missed you too. You look beautiful, doll."

"Thanks," Eva smiled, looking down at her dress.

"Eva?" said a tired voice.

Eva looked at Sally, who'd woken up.

"Hey there," she smiled. "How you feeling?"

"Miserable," said Sally. "I itch everywhere." She was gripping the sheets to keep herself from scratching.

"I know," she said. "I'm sorry, sweetie."

"When did you get back?" she asked.

"A couple hours ago," said Eva. "First thing I did was come find you." She smiled at him. Joseph walked back into the room with a pot of cold water with cloths. Eva dipped one in and put it across her forehead. "This should help some." She spread cold, wet cloths across her arms and legs.

"That helps a little," said Sally.

"Good," Eva smiled.

That evening, Dodger and Race were out selling the afternoon edition. Eva had been inside taking care of Sally all afternoon. She climbed out the window and decided to go to the roof for some fresh air.

She climbed the last steps and stepped up onto the roof. She saw Spot up there, smoking.

"Oh, sorry," said Eva. "I thought no one was up here. I can go."

Spot turned. "No, stay," said Spot. Eva walked over and overturned a crate to sit next to him.

"I thought you might be out with your…well, the…her."

"Nah, she had to go home," said Spot. "So how was the trip?"

"Incredible," said Eva, looking out over the city. "How's life here treating you?"

"Can't complain," said Spot. "Not much changes around here."

"Yeah, I guess not," she said.

"You look good," said Spot, looking her up and down. "Money suits you."

Eva wasn't sure how to respond.

Spot turned toward her. "Look, Eva, I…" Spot started.

Just then, Dodger popped his head out the window. "Eva? Sally's asking for you."

"Okay," said Eva. She and Spot shared a look before she went back downstairs.


	21. One Door Closing

A few days later, Sally was healed up. While she was exhausted from going between Brooklyn and Manhattan every day, she was grateful she got to spend a lot of time with her family. Making them breakfast in the mornings, reading to Sally in the afternoons, card games with Tommy and Joseph in the evenings, and long late night talks with Dodger. She and Spot never did finish their conversation from the roof, but Eva hadn't forgotten the look in his eyes.

Since Sally was healed, Eva was going back to Manhattan.

"I can't stay in Brooklyn," said Eva, when the boys asked why she was leaving. 'There's just…one too many people." She cast a glance in Spot's direction.

Dodger nodded. "Sure," he said. "You taking them?" He nodded his head to Tommy and Sally.

"That depends," said Eva. "Where do you two want to live?"

"I want to stay with you," said Sally, hugging Eva's side. Eva smiled down at her.

"I miss Manhattan, but I don't want to leave Dodger," said Tommy.

"If you want to go with Eva, I'll come visit," said Dodger. "And you're always welcome in Brooklyn."

Tommy smiled. "I can't wait to bunk with Tumbler again!"

Eva grinned.

"We'll see you later," she said, giving Dodger a hug.

"Don't be a stranger," said Dodger, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"I promise," she said.

Race walked over. "You heading back?" he asked.

"All of us are," said Eva.

Race nodded. "Great," he grinned. Dodger gave Tommy and Sally hugs.

Race, Eva, Tommy and Sally began walking back to the Manhattan lodging house.

"It means a lot that you were in Brooklyn," said Eva, as they crossed back into Manhattan. "Even for just chicken pox."

"I made you a promise," said Race, with a small smile. "And speaking of promises…" He pulled a small pouch out of his pocket. "This is yours."

"This is the money I gave you before I left," she said, looking down at the pouch in shock.

Race nodded. "Yeah. There's not a lot left over," he said. "Sally needed some new shoes, and they lost all their money in the fire. The only money Tommy had on him that day was what he'd made selling. It held 'em over until the money you wired arrived."

"Thank you," she said. "I can't tell you what it means to me that you took care of them. And that…well…"

"And that I didn't gamble it away?"

"Yeah," shrugged Eva.

"I was a little surprised too," said Race. "But I really didn't want to let you down. And those two are like a brother and sister to me. Knowing I was responsible for them…kept me away from the track."

Eva smiled and kissed Race on the cheek. "While we're returning things," she said. She took off Race's mother's brooch that she was wearing. "This belongs to you."

"No," said Race. "I want you to keep it."

"Race, it belongs in your family, and I only had it on loan, remember?" Eva said.

Race shook his head and pushed it back towards her. "I want you to keep it. On loan," he winked.

Eva looked at him for a while. "Why?" she asked.

Race shrugged. "What am I gonna do with it? Wear it?" He chuckled. "I like that you wear it."

Eva smiled and closed her hand around it. "I'll keep it safe."

They walked up to the lodging house.

Race opened the door and let Eva walk in ahead of him.

"Well, look who's back!" said Kloppman, grinning at Tommy.

"Hey Kloppman!" Tommy grinned. "I'm back to live here!"

"Glad to hear it! And you brought your sister with you, I see…both of them!" said Kloppman. "Tumbler will be glad to see her again!"

"Tumbler?" Eva asked.

"He's got a little crush on Sally," said Race. "It's pretty adorable." Eva giggled. "Well, Tommy, should we go see if the afternoon edition is out?"

"Yep," said Tommy. "See you girls later!"

Race and Tommy walked out of the lodging house.

"Hey Kloppman," said Eva. "Would it be okay for Sally to stay here with me?"

"Of course," said Kloppman. "She can share your room."

"Thank you so much," said Eva. She signed them in and paid for their rent.

Eva and Sally spent the rest of the day dusting, sweeping, and scrubbing the lodging house lobby.

* * *

The next day, after lunch, Eva headed straight for the nearest trolley. She took the familiar route to the bridge, across the bridge, to the second stop, and the three blocks to the Brooklyn lodging house. The sun was just beginning to set as she walked up to the front of the lodging house.

"Well well well, if it ain't the deposed Queen of Brooklyn," said one of the newsies who was sitting on the front stoop.

Eva rolled her eyes. "Don't call me that," she said. "Besides, you don't even know what that means."

"Sure I do. They's always talkin' about deposed people in the papes," said the newsie.

Eva sighed. "Of all the things for you to pick up," she said. "Is Spot here?"

"Maybe. What's it to ya?" he asked.

"Never mind," she said, walking past him and into the lodging house. Several newsies were lounging around the lobby. She went straight to the front desk where Jacob, the superintendant for Brooklyn was doing the books.

"Hey Jacob," she said. "Is Spot around?"

"I think he's upstairs," he said.

"Can I?" she motioned up the stairs.

"Sure," said Jacob, nodding. "Just make it quick, or go to the roof or something. Can't have girls loitering in the bunkroom."

"Thanks," she smiled.

Eva walked up the stairs. "Spot?" she called, but no answer from the boys' sleeping room. She saw one of the windows wide open. She crawled through onto the fire escape and to the roof. She found Spot up there.

"Hey," she said.

Spot looked over and grinned. "Hey," he smiled, standing up and walking over. He gave her a hand up to the roof. "I was just thinkin' about you."

"Really?" asked Eva.

"Sure," said Spot.

"I just wanted to come by and say thank you," she said. "Thank you for letting Tommy and Sally stay here. It means a lot that they could be close to Dodger."

"No problem," said Spot. He took a drag off his cigarette. "So, now that you're back in town, what are you doing?"

Eva shrugged. "Still getting settled. I've been living and working at the lodging house," she said.

"Really?" asked Spot, raising an eyebrow. "Even though you could probably go anywhere, do anything…"

"It's where my family is," said Eva. "All my family…I love those boys, and Kloppman…I missed them."

"I would've thought you'd be living uptown by now…courtin' some fancy lawyer or doctor…" said Spot.

"I know you'd think that," she said, pointedly. "But plans change. Where did you think you'd be by this time?"

Spot shrugged. "I thought about moving on, but…what would the guys do without me? I know they'd probably be okay, but truth be told, I'd worry about them."

"All of the Brooklyn newsies?" Eva asked.

"Yeah," said Spot. "I mean these guys are my family. Sure, they're tough, but in truth we're not much tougher than any other newsie. We're protected by a good reputation and a good name."

"You could be a superintendant of a lodging house," said Eva. "Like Jacob."

"That's not for me," said Spot. He cleared his throat. "Jack and I have been talking about this a lot, actually."

"Yeah?" asked Eva.

"It's getting harder and harder to be a newsie the older I get," said Spot. "Every one expects by the time you get to this age, you get a real job. Jack's talking about really making the move to Santa Fe. I might go with him."

Eva raised her eyebrows. "You? In Santa Fe? I couldn't imagine that," she chuckled. "You're a city boy through and through."

"Maybe Santa Fe needs a city boy like me to toughen it up a bit," he smirked. Eva chuckled. Spot's smirk faded. "We haven't told anyone yet. But we think by the spring, we'll have enough money."

"Wait, you're really going?" asked Eva.

Spot nodded.

"Wow," said Eva.

Spot sighed and threw his cigarette down, extinguishing it with the toe of his shoe. "Eva, I'm sorry…for everything…"

"It's okay," said Eva.

"It's not to me," said Spot. "I've regretted letting you go every single day."

"I know," said Eva.

They sat there in silence, the unasked question hanging in the air.

"Come back," said Spot reaching over and taking her hand.

Eva stared at him. The logical side of her brain screamed, No! But sitting on the roof, alone with Spot, it felt like old times, and her heart yearned for those times. Things were more complicated and financially tighter, but he always provided a security that no dollar amount could top.

"Come to Santa Fe with me," he said. "We can pick up where we left off."

Spot leaned in and kissed her. Eva's stomach did somersaults, and her heart raced. She hesitated for a brief second, and out of reflex, relaxed and leaned into him. When she felt his arms around her, pulling her closer, the alarms went off in her head.

"You have a girlfriend," she said, pushing him away.

"I don't have to," said Spot. Eva gave him a disgusted look.

"I don't know why I came here," she said, standing up. "I'm going home."

"It's dark," said Spot. "The trolleys ain't runnin' at this hour. Let me walk you home."

"No," she said. "I don't want to be near you."

She stormed down the fire escape, tears blurring her vision. She angrily wiped them away. She heard Spot swearing and kicking crates. As soon as she hit solid ground, she stormed toward the bridge.

At that moment, Dodger and Race were walking towards the Brooklyn Lodging House.

"Eva?" Dodger saw her walking. "Eva! Where you going?"

"Home," said Eva. "And I'm never setting foot in Brooklyn again."

"Wait, hold up," said Race, running after her. They managed to get in front of her and stopped her. "What happened? What did Spot do?"

"He's an ass," said Eva. "I just…" and then her anger turned against herself, "I don't know why I keep coming back here. I don't know why I keep running back to him, when I know I don't want to be with him. He made his choice when he dumped me, but like an idiot I keep going back to him."

"Hey, hey, it's okay," said Race, wrapping her in a hug.

Eva closed her eyes, a few tears spilling onto her cheeks.

"I'll walk her home," Race said to Dodger. "Tell the boys I won't make the poker game."

Dodger nodded and continued to the Lodging House.

"Come on, doll," said Race, handing her a handkerchief. "Let's go home."

Eva nodded and took the handkerchief, wiping her eyes. Race put his arm around her and they walked. "You wanna talk about it?"

Eva recounted the conversation with Spot to Race, who got angrier and angrier, as the story went on.

"I'm just so tired of him asking me to come back," she said. "The worst part is, when he asks me, I _want_ to. But I don't. I don't because it's just going to end in tears. And the worst part is, he has a girl! He has a girl, but still comes after me."

Race sighed. "He still loves you."

"I don't care," said Eva. "That's not fair to the girl. And I haven't seen him in almost a year, and suddenly he's asking for me back."

"How did you and Spot leave things before you left?" he asked.

"He asked me to stay with him, then he kissed me," she said.

Race sighed. "Spot's my friend, and I don't doubt that he really cares about you, but Spot is and always has been very much about Spot Conlon."

"You're tellin' me," she said. "I don't know why I even went over there."

Once they crossed the bridge, Race started to head toward the lodging house. "I don't want to go home yet," said Eva. "Can we just walk for a bit?"

"Sure," said Race. He smirked and offered her his arm.

Eva grinned and looped her arm through his. They walked along in companionable silence for a few minutes.

"I'm so lucky you're my friend," said Eva.

"Why do you say that?"

"You've picked up the pieces after Spot so many times," she said. "With never so much as an 'I told you so.' And you took such good care of my family while I was gone."

"Your family means a lot to me," said Race. He looked over at her. "And so do you."

Eva gave him a small smile. "You know, I haven't forgotten our conversation before I left," said Eva. "Or the kiss. I just…I need a little bit of time to readjust to being back here."

"I understand," said Race.

"But the door's closed on me and Spot," she said. "I just didn't want you to think I'd forgotten about you."

Race grinned. "Thanks."

"Let's go eat dinner," she smiled, kissing him on the cheek.


	22. Heartbreak at the Lodging House

One evening, Eva and Sally were putting dinner together when Kloppman walked out of his office. Eva noticed he was shuffling a little worse than normal.

"Hey, Kloppman, you doing all right?" Eva asked.

"Yeah," he said, a little unsteadily.

Suddenly, Kloppman, leaning against the counter, lost his grip and fell to the ground.

"Kloppman!" Eva yelled. "Are you okay?" Kloppman mumbled something. "What'd you say?" Kloppman tried to speak again, but it came out as a mumbled mess.

"What happened?" Race said, coming in, Skittery right behind him. He knelt down next to Kloppman.

"Skittery, run and go get a doctor," she said. "Sally, go upstairs."

Specs poked his head in. "What happened?"

"Get all the kids up stairs, Specs," said Race.

"Kloppy, can you look at me?" Eva asked. Kloppman tried to look up at her.

"Let's get him to the couch," said Race. "Come on, Kloppy." He took one of Kloppman's arms and put it around his neck.

Eva stood up. "Mush, come help."

Mush ran in and helped Race get Kloppman to his bed. Eva rushed ahead of them, opening door and moving things around. They laid him down on the couch.

"What do we do?" Mush whispered.

"I have no idea," said Eva. "Right now, just…go upstairs and reassure the kids." Eva sighed, fidgeting with her hands. "Where is Skittery with the doctor?"

Eva sat down in a chair as Mush walked out of the room. Race stood behind her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"I wish I knew what to do," said Eva. "I hate just sitting here feeling useless."

"Kloppman?" Race rushed to his side as Kloppman closed his eyes and his head fell to one side.

Skittery burst into the room with a doctor. "Found one," he said. Dr. Gershowitz followed him with a black bag. Eva and Race moved off to the side. The doctor stood over Kloppman and took his pulse and checked a few other things.

"This man is dead," said the doctor.

"What?!" asked Eva, standing up. "No, he was alive just a few minutes ago!"

"Can you tell me what happened?"

Race did his best to describe what happened as Eva stood there in shock.

The doctor sighed and nodded as he listened to Race's description. "From what it sounds like, he had a stroke," said the doctor. "From the speed with which it happened, there was nothing that could've been done."

"So what do we do now?" asked Race.

"Do you have a phone here?" asked the doctor. "I could call an undertaker for you."

"In the office," said Eva, "I'll show you."

The doctor followed Eva into Kloppman's office and he called an undertaker. "He'll be here in about a half hour," he said, hanging up.

"Thank you," said Eva. "Do we owe you anything for the visit?"

The doctor shook his head. "No," he said. "I'm sorry for your loss." He touched Eva's shoulder.

"Thank you," she said. With that, the doctor left.

Race walked into the office. Eva looked up at him. He walked over and pulled her into a hug. "We've gotta go tell everybody," said Eva softly.

"You want me to while you wait for the undertaker? Or you want to go upstairs and I can talk with the undertaker?" he asked.

Eva felt tears spill over her cheeks. "I want Kloppman back," she sobbed.

"I know," he said. Kloppman had been like a father to him. He felt his eyes wet with a couple tears too.

"Can you just wait here with me, and we'll go tell everyone together?"

"Sure," said Race, rubbing her back as he held her.

"There so much to do," Eva sighed.

"We'll take it a day at a time," said Race.

* * *

The undertaker came and went, taking Kloppman's body away.

"Ready?" Race asked, holding his hand out to her.

"As I'll ever be," she said, taking his hand. They walked up the stairs to where the newsies were gathered.

"What's wrong with Kloppman?" Tommy asked as soon as they walked in.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Tumbler asked.

Race took a deep breath. "There's no easy way to put this," said Race. For the sake of the younger ones, he put it, "Kloppman got really sick tonight. And he died."

Eva felt a fresh wave of tears roll down her cheeks. Race squeezed her hand and Sally ran up to her, hugging her.

The newsies were all very silent, each one of them reflecting on what Kloppman had meant to them, how they wish they could've spoken to him one last time, and what it meant. Some of the younger newsies cried, while the older ones blinked back the tears.

"Let's go finish dinner, Sally," said Eva, taking her hand and walking down the stairs.

"What's gonna happen to us?" Sally asked as they walked down the stairs.

"Nothing," said Eva. "We're going to be just fine. I promise you."

* * *

"You okay, Tommy?" Race asked, sitting next to him.

"No," said Tommy. "I feel like I did when my parents died. It's like I'm being orphaned all over again."

Tommy just vocalized what most of them were already feeling.

"I hear ya, kid," said Race, putting his arm around him.

The rest of the night was somber and quiet. Many of the newsies went to bed early, unable to distract themselves from dwelling on what happened. After Eva put Sally to bed, she walked out and saw Race sitting near the fire, wiping his eyes. She walked over and sat close to him, putting her arm around him.

"You doing okay?" she asked.

Race nodded, sniffing. Eva rubbed his back and put her head on his shoulder. She felt Race rest his head against hers.

"I never had a pop," said Race. "At least not one that I can remember. Kloppman was the only father I've ever known." Eva took his hand, giving it a squeeze. She felt the tears sting her eyes again. "How about you? You seem to be holding up okay."

"It's just a brave face for the younger kids," said Eva, her voice cracking.

Race put his arms around her as Eva let the tears fall.

"There's so much to do," said Eva. "I've gotta find one of Kloppman's nieces or nephews and let them know tomorrow. We've gotta tell the Children's Aid Society and they're gonna send someone to replace Kloppman."

"What if we just kept running it ourselves, and not tell them?" asked Race. "You could do it."

"They'd find out eventually," said Eva.

"Want me to come with you to talk to Kloppy's family?" he asked.

"I'll be okay," she said. "I'm just glad I don't have to go through this alone."

"We're in this together," said Race.

"Yeah," said Eva. "But I was talking about you specifically."

Race rested his head against hers. Slowly, Eva drifted off to sleep on his shoulder.


	23. The Plan

_A/N: Got a super short chapter, so I'm gonna give you another double upload tonight. Enjoy!_

* * *

The newsies all walked back to the Lodging House after Kloppman's memorial service.

"There were a _lot_ of people there," said Tommy.

"Kloppman has touched a lot of lives," said Race.

"Yeah, but how did they all know?" asked Tommy.

"Newsies stick together, kid," said Race. "I'm sure once people who knew him found out, they spread the word fast."

"I'm hungry, Eva," said Sally.

"Okay, we can go to lunch," said Eva.

The group of newsies headed to Tibby's. It was sad, but at the same time, they were able to reminisce about Kloppman – when they'd first met him, what he'd done for them over the years…

"You're quiet," said Race, putting his arm on the back of Eva's chair. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah," said Eva. "Just thinkin'."

* * *

A few days later, Eva sat down at Tibby's looking at the newsie in front of her.

"I have a proposition for you," said Eva. "Let me tell you my plan, and then you can tell me if you're up for it."

"Okay," said Race, taking a drink.

"The Children's Aid Society needs a replacement for Kloppman," Eva started. "I went to them, asking to do it, but they won't let a female run the boys' lodging house."

"You are quite a distraction," Race joked.

Eva chuckled. "Anyway, here's what I want to do. Get you cleaned up, put you in a decent suit, and get you the job as superintendant of our lodging house."

"I dunno, Eva," said Race. "I don't know anything about running a house."

"That's okay," said Eva. "I can show you everything Kloppman did. He showed me everything. Not that there's much to it." Eva took a drink, letting Race process that. "As superintendant, you could 'hire' anyone you wanted to cook and clean – obviously yours truly. Then you can live in Kloppman's old room, and I'll stay in my old room. Really, I just need you to be the front-man for me."

"You really thought this out," said Race. "You sure they're gonna go for it? I'm not exactly an adult."

"A minor detail," said Eva. "We could just lie about your age."

"I dunno," said Race. "I don't know if I'd be good at it."

"Of course you would," said Eva. "All the guys look up to you. I mean, you've heard of some of the other superintendants around here. That witch who runs the newsgirls house in the Bronx? Every lodging house in Queens – boys and girls - has supers that just don't care. I know Kloppman would've wanted us to do this. So what do you say?"

Race thought about it for a minute. "Why me?"

Eva was slightly taken aback. "What do you mean?"

"Don't get me wrong, Eva. I'd love to do this, but…I don't know if I'm your guy. Being responsible for all those guys? Handling the responsibilities, the money, the building…"

Eva reached across the table and took his hand. "You took care of my family when I was gone," she said. "And if it makes you feel better, I can handle the money. But you've changed a lot, Race. Give yourself some credit. The guys look up to you."

"You really think I'll be able to pull it off? You think they're hire me?" he asked.

Eva nodded. "I met some people when I was overseas," she said. "They're in New York now. One little fundraiser with the right people for the CAS, and they'll probably even turn a blind eye to me living there as a housekeeper."

Race looked at her. He knew she wasn't going to give up until he said yes. He grinned. "I'm in," said Race.

Eva beamed. "Fantastic," she said.

The next night at the lodging house, it was business as usual. Newsies were playing cards, chatting, and joking. The general mood of the lobby was sullen, Kloppman's absence being constantly noted. Suddenly, the door burst open.

"Race!" Eva called out, hanging her coat on the rack. "Where's Race?"

"Upstairs," said Blink, looking her up and down. "Where've you been?" Eva was wearing a dark blue suit dress and heeled shoes.

Mush let out a low whistle. "Lookin' good, Eva," he winked, good-naturedly.

"What's all the excitement?" Race asked, walking in.

"Race!" Eva exclaimed. "They went for it!"

"And your friend?" Race asked. Eva nodded excitedly. "YES!" Race grinned and picked Eva up in a hug, spinning her around.

"Will some one please tell us what is going on?" Blink asked.

Eva turned to him, grinning. "A friend of mine that I met overseas is back here in New York. She's going to help me throw a big benefit for the Children's Aid Society," said Eva. "Because of that, they're going to let Race be the superintendant of the lodging house!"

The newsies broke into excited chatter.

"No way!"

"That's great!"

"How'd you do it?"

"Hey Race, does this mean we get to live rent-free?"


	24. A Night Out

Race walked into the lodging house, carrying a garment bag.

"Hey," Eva smiled at him. "Did you get your suit?"

"Yeah," said Race. "Mr. Lagorio is a….he's an interesting guy. He seemed to know a lot about me."

Eva grinned. "I spent over a year with him overseas after Spot asked for me back, and you kissed me," she said. "I needed _some_one to talk to."

Race nodded. "I can't believe he bought the suit for me," said Race. "To only wear once."

"For him, this is the equivalent to picking up the lunch bill," said Eva.

"Wow," said Race. He seemed nervous.

"What's wrong?"

"You really think this is a good idea? Me going to the benefit?"

"Of course it is," said Eva, walking over to him. "They want to know who'll be running the lodging house."

"Do they know I'm just a newsie?" he asked.

"I told them you were a newsie growing up, and are very familiar with the workings of a lodging house," she said.

"You sure got a way of improvin' the truth," he said.

"I learn from the best," Eva winked. "You're gonna be fine tonight. I promise. Just be your usual charming self."

"Yeah, but these are all rich people, and I'm just..."

"Let me tell you something Lagorio told me. Half these people are broke. They just have a good name to hide behind. They're no better than you. And don't let them make you feel like they are."

Race nodded, still unsure of himself.

Eva smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "The carriage is going to pick us up in an hour. I'm going to start getting ready."

* * *

Race was in the bathroom, shaving.

"So is this a date?" Tommy asked. Race glanced at him. He stood at the entrance of the bathroom, his arms crossed.

"Um, I don't know," said Race.

"Well, if it is, aren't you supposed to ask my permission to take her out?" asked Tommy.

"I asked Dodger a year ago," said Race.

"And what did he say?" asked Tommy.

"He said it would be okay," said Race. "That I'm one of the few he'd trust with Eva."

"I just don't want a repeat of her and Spot," said Tommy.

Race wiped his face and looked at Tommy. "I promise you, that's the last thing I want to put Eva through."

* * *

"Is this a date?" Sally asked.

"No," said Eva, pinning her hair back. "We're just going to the benefit together, so the Children's Aid Society people can meet him. They're letting him run the lodging house because I got this benefit put together for them."

"What's a benefit?" she asked.

"It's a party where rich people donate their money," said Eva.

"Is Race going to kiss you tonight?"

"Sally!" said Eva.

"Well, he wants to!"

Eva looked at her. "How do you know that?"

"He's always looking at you, smiling at you, holding your hand, putting his arm around you…"

* * *

"Are you gonna kiss her?" Tommy asked.

Race spit out the toothpaste. "What?"

"Isn't that what people do on dates?"

"It's not all they do…" said Race.

"What else do people do on dates?" Tommy asked.

"Um…they talk, eat, dance," said Race.

"You know how to dance?" Tommy asked.

"No," said Race.

"So you're not gonna dance," said Tommy. "You're gonna talk and eat. You do that all the time together. How is this a date and not all the other times you talked and ate together?"

"I never said it was a date," said Race.

Sally helped Eva button up her dress in the back.

"So if this isn't a date, when are you and Race going to go on a date?" asked Sally.

"Who says we'll go on a date?" asked Eva.

"Joseph and Race," said Sally, matter-of-factly.

"When did they say that?" asked Eva.

"When I had the chicken pox, they talked about you," said Sally. "They thought I was sleeping. They talked about you and Spot, and about how Race wanted to date you before Spot asked you out." Eva turned and looked at Sally as she told the story. "Then a couple days ago, I heard Race talking to Joseph about how he didn't like Spot always asking for you back, and making you upset. How he just wants you to be happy, but he wants you to be happy with him." Sally did the last button. "There you go. All finished."

"Thanks," said Eva, thinking over what Sally said.

* * *

Race walked downstairs and the newsie let up a chorus of shouts and whistles.

"Lookin' good, Race!" said Blink.

"Nice monkey suit!" said Skittery.

"You look like the mayor!" said Mush

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're just jealous," Race joked.

Race knocked on Eva's door. "Eva? The carriage is here to pick us up," he said.

Eva opened the door.

"Wow," said Race, when he saw her, his mouth hanging open. Her hair was pinned back neatly. She was wearing a blue silk evening gown with short sleeves and light beadwork on the bodice. It hugged her body until the skirt, where it went down to the floor. "You look…wow."

Eva smiled, blushing a bit. "Thanks," she said. "You look great too."

"Thanks," he said. He was wearing a black three-piece tuxedo with a white shirt. He had combed his hair to one side. He gestured to his undone bowtie. "I don't know how to tie these things."

Eva smiled and reached up. "I can do it." She stepped closer and tied his bow tie. He could smell a light scent of perfume on her as she tied the bow tie. "There you go." She ran her hands down the lapels of his jacket and took a step back. "You could pass for a real gentleman."

Eva walked out of her room, and the lodging house exploded in whistles and cheers, making her blush deeply.

Race offered Eva his arm and they walked out. Race opened the door of the carriage for her. Eva stepped in and Race got in after her.

"You doing okay?" Eva asked.

"Yeah," said Race. "You'll stay with me, right? You're not gonna make me face the richy-riches on my own?"

"I'll be with you all evening," she said, taking his hand.

* * *

They pulled up outside the fancy hotel where the benefit was being held. Race got out of the carriage. "Wow," he said. He helped Eva out of the carriage.

"Ready?" Eva asked, looping her arm through his.

"Good evening, Eva," said Mr. Lagorio, walking up to them.

"Hello, Mr. Lagorio," she said. "Thank you so much for coming."

"My pleasure," he smiled. "I'm glad I could help the cause."

"You remember…Anthony Higgins," said Eva. "He's one of the lodging house superintendents."

Lagoiro nodded. "Nice to see you again…Race," he grinned.

Race nodded, shaking Lagorio's hand. Mr. Lagorio walked on in with a lady on his arm.

"See? You're a natural," she winked at Race.

Race grinned. "No one's called me Anthony in years," he said.

"Was that okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," said Race.

"Come on," Eva grinned, walking towards the building. They walked inside and to the ballroom.

"Wow," said Race, when he saw the ballroom. "This place is nice."

"Yeah," said Eva.

"Champagne?" a waiter offered a tray of flutes of champagne.

"Thank you," Eva smiled, taking one. She turned to Race. "Drink slowly."

Race took a flute and took a sip.

Eva looked around the room. "Recognize that guy over there?" she gestured to a man in a tux speaking to a group.

"Is that Hearst?" asked Race.

Eva nodded. "And that guy over there?" she nodded across the room.

"Pulitzer?" Race swallowed.

"A couple of Rockefellers and Carnegies over there," she said.

"Eva, I don't belong here," he said.

"Neither do I," she said. "Come on, I'll introduce you to some poor people pretending to be rich."

"Why are the poor people here if this is to make money for the CAS?" asked Race.

"They're married to rich families."

Eva and Race worked their way around the room, talking to different socialites, Children Aid Society workers, and managing to avoid an uncomfortable conversation with Pulitzer.

"I'm starving," Eva said to Race. "Let's get some food." They walked over to where appetizers were.

"I feel like I should be stuffing my pockets to save some for later," Race joked.

Eva chuckled as she made herself a plate of food and watched people as they snacked.

"I had an odd conversation with Tommy when I was getting ready," Race commented, as they watched a few people waltzing in the middle of the room.

"What did he say?" she asked.

"He kept asking me if this was a date, and if we were going to dance, and eat, and...talk," said Race, opting to leave out the kissing Tommy mentioned.

Eva laughed. "Sally kept asking me the same sorts of things. She said she overheard you and Dodger talking about me."

"What did she say?" he asked.

Eva smirked at him. "Just stuff."

"No fair," said Race. Eva giggled. They watched the people dance some more. "So, did you have to learn to dance when you were overseas?"

"Yep," said Eva. "Wanna try?"

"No," said Race. "Not like that. If I didn't step on your feet, I'd step on someone else's."

Eva smiled and looped her arm through his once more.

* * *

At the end of the evening, the Children's Aid Society publicly thanked Eva's socialite friend, Mr. Lagorio, and several of the other big donators for their support. The benefit wound down, and people began to go home. Eva and Race walked out onto the street.

"It's a nice evening," said Eva. "You want to walk back?"

"Sure," said Race. Eva took his arm and they walked down the street.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" asked Eva.

"Not once I got my third champagne in me!" Race chuckled.

Eva smiled. Race dropped his arm and held her hand, instead of taking her arm.

"Dunno what I'm going to do with this suit now," said Race.

Eva shrugged. "We can put it in the trunk full of dresses that I will never wear again. Or maybe we'll just get all gussied up every once in a while and walk around uptown, pretending we're rich."

Race chuckled. "Did you have a good time?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Eva. "I still get a little nervous when I'm around people like that, though. I'm much more comfortable hanging around the lodging house with you guys."

"Glad I wasn't the only one," said Race.

"I'm really glad you're doing this with me," said Eva, looking at him. "I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else."

Race smiled. "I'm glad you asked me."

Eva walked closer to him, and Race put his arm around her.

Race stopped walking. "Eva?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

Race wasn't sure if it was the suit or the champagne giving him confidence, but he didn't care. He put his arms around her waist, pulled her close, and kissed her.

Eva felt like melting. She leaned into Race, kissing him back. She slid her hands up his arms and rested her hand at the back of his neck. They stayed in that blissful embrace for several moments.

Race pulled back and rested his cheek against Eva's. He absent-mindedly ran his hand up and down her back.

"I can't tell you how many times I've thought about this since I left," she said.

Race smiled. "I've wanted to do that ever since you burst into that room in the Brooklyn Lodging House," he said. "I love you, Eva."

Eva pulled back a bit. She smiled and leaned in, kissing him again. "I love you too."

Race grinned and hugged her. "I guess this answers Tommy's question," Race chucked to himself. "We ate, we talked, we kissed. It was a date."

Eva giggled. "But we don't have to tell him that."

Race laughed and took her hand once more and they walked the rest of the way to the lodging house.

Race went to open the door, but Eva stopped him.

"Before we move forward, we need to get something out on the table," she said.

"What?" Race asked.

"We're going in on this lodging house together," she said. "We're going to be living and working together. If things turn sour between us…"

"They won't," said Race.

"Yeah, but if they do," said Eva, looking down at her hands.

"They won't," Race promised, holding both her hands.

"Race, you don't know that," said Eva.

Race tilted her chin so she was looking at him. "I'm not Spot," said Race. "I would never do to you what he did. If we have a problem, we'll work it out. You and I care too much about the lodging house and the boys," he paused, "and each other to let our relationship interfere."

Eva pulled him into a hug. When she let go, she smiled at him and went to open the door.

"Wait," said Race.

"What?" asked Eva.

"Well, I don't really want to give you a goodnight kiss with everyone watching," said Race.

Eva smiled. "Okay," she said.

Race stepped closer and put his arms around her waist. He leaned in and kissed her. Eva put her arms around his neck when the door to the lodging house flew open.

"Aha!" said Tommy, causing them to jump apart. "See, Spot, I told you it was them!"

"Tommy!" said Eva. "You scared us." She looked up and past Tommy and saw Spot standing behind him. His jaw fell open as he looked her up and down.

"What were you doing for so long out here?" Tommy asked.

"We were just about to walk in," said Race. He gestured for Eva to go in, and he followed her. Eva walked past Spot and into the lobby.

"Lookin' good, sis," said Dodger.

"Thanks," said Eva.

"How did it go?" he asked.

"Really well," she said.

Race looked over at Spot, who was still checking out Eva. He reached over and closed Spot's mouth.

Spot pushed Race's arm away and walked over to sit with Tommy and Dodger once more. He picked up his cards and buried his nose in them, getting back to the card game.

* * *

_A/N: Hope you enjoyed! I know this is what some of you have been waiting for!_


	25. The End of an Era

The sun hadn't even risen above the Manhattan skyline when Race climbed the stairs to the bunkroom.

"All right, up and at 'em, boys," he called. "Time to get out there and sell the papes!" The boys began to stir – most of them groaning and holding pillows to their ears. "Come on, fellas, the papes aren't gonna sell themselves. Brooklyn's coming over for a poker game tonight, you wanna be able to have money to bet!"

Slowly, the boys began to crawl out of bed and head to the bathroom to get ready. Race walked back downstairs.

"No matter how many times I do that, it just feels wrong," he said. "To me, it'll always be Kloppman's job to wake everyone up."

Eva gave him a sympathetic smile. "I know," she said, putting her arm around him. "But you've been doing a great job as superintendant these past few weeks."

"Thanks," he said, giving her a kiss.

"You gonna play in the poker game tonight?" she asked.

"I don't know," said Race. "Probably not. It doesn't feel right taking money from these guys, now that I'm not a newsie anymore."

Soon, the boys came down the stairs, on their way out to sell papes.

"Hey, Tumbler, would you mind walking Sally to the grocery store while you sell today?" Eva asked, as the younger boy passed by.

"Sure!" Tumbler grinned. Eva smiled as he left with the last of the newsies.

Eva looked at Race, who was grinning at her. "I couldn't help myself."

Race chuckled. "So what are you doing today?" he asked.

"Sally is going to pick up some extra food from the store. I figure I will make some extra food and snacks tonight for the boys coming to the game," said Eva. "And I have some cleaning to do."

"Want to play a hand before you get to work?" Race asked, pulling out a deck of cards.

Eva grinned. "You need your fix, since you're not playing tonight?"

"You know me so well," said Race.

"Sure," said Eva, taking the deck and shuffling it. "But not poker. I always lose at poker." She dealt out one card face up, and four cards face down, all in a row. "We're playing high-low."

"What are we gambling with?" he asked.

"You'll see," said Eva.

Race looked down at the face-up card. It was a seven of clubs. "Higher."

Eva turned over the next card, and it was a ten of diamonds. Eva smirked at him and leaned in, giving him a long kiss. After a few seconds, she pulled back. "Okay, next one, higher or lower?"

"I like this game," Race grinned. Eva giggled. "Lower."

Eva turned over the next card. It was a 3 of hearts. Eva smiled and leaned in, kissing him again. She slid her arms around his neck and he held her close. Eva raked her fingers through his hair before pulling back once more.

"You're on a winning streak. Next," she grinned.

Race smiled at her and took her hand, giving it a squeeze.

"What?" Eva asked, when he didn't pick higher or lower.

"I'm just really glad to be with you," he said. "After wanting nothing more than to be with you for so long, some times it's hard to believe this is real."

Eva smiled at him. Race leaned in to kiss her. "Ah-ah," she said, putting a finger on his lips and lightly pushing him away. "Not until you pick higher or lower." She smirked.

"Higher," he smirked. Eva turned over the card as Race leaned in for a lengthy kiss. Neither one of them noticed it was only a 2 of spades.

A small cough from behind caused them to jump apart.

"Good morning," Sally stood there, grinning.

"Morning, Sally," Eva said, blushing slightly. "Um, here's the list and some money for the grocer. Tumbler will meet you at the circulation office. He'll walk you to the grocery store and help you carry the stuff back."

"Okay," said Sally, putting the list and money in her pocket. She gave them a knowing grin before turning and walking out.

Eva and Race laughed after she left. "I better get some work done," she said, giving Race one last kiss before going up the stairs to clean up.

Race grinned and watched her walk up the stairs.

* * *

That night, several Brooklyn newsies came over. Tables and overturned crates littered the lobby, with newsies playing poker. Eva and Sally had food lined up on the counter for the guys to snack on.

Spot was sitting in a group with Jack, Dodger, and Tommy playing poker. He glanced up at Eva, who was sitting on a stool near the counter. Race had his arm around her, and he stole a kiss when he thought no one else was looking. Eva smiled and giggled softly. Spot knew that smile. Even when she had been in love with Spot, it was the smile she always only ever had for Race. It was bittersweet for Spot, seeing them together. Spot knew she was happy, but he only wished she was happy and with him.

Spot turned back to the game, giving it his full focus to keep his mind off Eva. He saw Tommy and Dodger throwing glances at the next group over – Snipeshooter, Boots, Tumbler and Sally. He recognized the protective-older-brother looks they were sending. He did not miss getting those when he was with Eva.

Spot knew why he was waxing sentimental that night, but it still bugged him. He never realized how much these people meant to him before. Even the unpleasantness of his current life seemed to have a certain comfort to it.

Near the end of the evening, Jack stood up.

"Hey everyone, we got an announcement to make."

All the newsies quieted down, listening to Jack. Spot saw Eva look from Jack to him. When Spot locked eyes with her, he nodded imperceptibly.

"There's no easy way to put this, so I'm just gonna come out and say it," said Jack. "You guys have known I've wanted to head out to Santa Fe for a while now, and I've finally saved up enough money. So in a couple days, Sarah and I are going to be hoppin' on a train and heading out west." You could have heard a pin drop in the lobby, as everyone processed the information. Spot stood up and Jack clapped him on the shoulder. "And Spot's gonna come with us."

Normally, the Brooklyn newsies were the toughest guys you would ever lay eyes on, but in that moment, they looked like a group of lost puppies, wondering what this meant. The silence was deafening, until a clear female voice rang out.

"Two days?" asked Eva.

"Yeah," said Spot. "We decided we didn't want to do a long good bye with every body. Tomorrow we're gonna get everything in order, pack up what little we have, and sell the last papes we'll ever sell. We head out on Saturday morning."

Dodger stood up, a cup of rootbeer in his hand. "In that case, I'm glad we're all gathered together already. So we can send you off in style," he said. He raised his cup. "To the best leaders a bunch of guys like us could ask for. To Jack Kelly and Spot Conlon."

The rest of the newsies raised their cups. "To Jack Kelly and Spot Conlon," they toasted.

The poker games lasted well into the night. Many of the Brooklyn newsies opted to stay in Manhattan that night, sleeping on the couches and floor when all the bunks were filled.

* * *

The next morning, all the newsies filed onto the streets to sell their papes. Before he left, Spot walked up to Race, who was behind the counter.

"Hey Race," said Spot. "Is Eva around?"

"No, she left early to run a few errands," said Race. "But if you're planning on torturing her some more by begging for her back and asking her to come with you, you can forget it."

"I wasn't planning on it," said Spot. "I actually need to talk to you too."

"About what?"

"I just wanted to clear the air between us," said Spot. "You told me once that Eva was the greatest thing to ever happen to me, and you were right. But I was stupid and let her go, and a jerk in how I tried to get her back. You've always been her best friend, and have helped her through whenever I hurt her. I just wanted to say I'm sorry to you for when I hurt her…and thank you. For taking such good care of her."

Race nodded. "I didn't do it for you," he said. "I did it for her."

"I know," said Spot. "I'm just glad she's with someone now who will take care of her."

"I will," said Race.

There was a short silence between the two.

"Anyway," said Spot. "The other reason I wanted to talk to you two is, I wanted to see if you would come see us off at the train station tomorrow. We leave on the nine o'clock train."

"We'll be there," said Race.

"Thanks," said Spot.

Race stuck out his hand, and Spot shook it.

* * *

Saturday morning, Eva, Race, and Dodger met Spot, Jack, and Sarah at the train station.

"Good luck," Eva smiled.

"Thanks," Sarah smiled.

"Take care of everyone for us," said Jack.

"We will," said Dodger.

"Brooklyn's on your shoulders now," Spot said to Dodger.

"No pressure, or anything," Jack joked.

Everyone exchanged hugs and handshakes.

"Eva, can I talk to you a minute?" Spot asked.

Eva hesitated. Both Race and Dodger watched Spot like hawks. "Sure," said Eva. She and Spot walked a couple paces away.

"I'm sorry," said Spot. "I know it's in the past, but I still feel like I owe you an explanation."

"For what?"

"I shouldn't have ended things with you like I did," said Spot. "I shouldn't have ended it at all. But I could tell you were going places. And I thought that one day, when you made it big, you wouldn't want to slum it with a guy like me anymore. So I hurt you to avoid getting hurt." Spot sighed. "I hated myself for doing it, and instantly regretted it. But it was too late."

Eva sighed and nodded. "I loved you once, you know," she said. "I probably would've stayed with you forever." Spot closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck. "But, I can't hate you for what you did now. I love Race. He's…we…I mean…." Eva couldn't find the words.

"I know," said Spot. "He's your best friend and he loves you. He loves you more than anything. He makes you happy, and I know he's going to take care of you until the day he dies."

Eva felt tears in her eyes and she nodded. "I hope you find someone that makes you as happy as Race makes me. I really do." Her voice cracked.

"Thanks," said Spot. "Can we part as friends?"

Eva nodded. "Friends." She gave him a hug.

The train whistle blew.

"That's us!" Jack called. Eva and Spot walked back to the group.

"You okay?" Race asked her, taking her hand. Eva nodded and gave him a smile.

"You better write us!" said Dodger as the trio boarded the train.

Eva, Race, and Dodger stood on the platform until the train pulled out.

"I can't imagine New York without Spot Conlon and Jack Kelly," said Race.

"Me either," said Eva. "It's the end of an era."


	26. Epilogue

_1906_

"You sure you're going to be okay to make the trip?" Sally asked, as Tommy handed Race Eva's suitcase.

"I'll be fine," said Eva, resting her hand on her growing stomach. "If we wait longer or until after the baby, the trip will be harder."

"You sure you're okay with keeping an eye on the place for us?" asked Race.

"Of course," said Dodger. "It'll be good practice for me for when Jacob retires in a couple years."

"Thanks again, Dodger," Eva smiled, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"You two have a safe trip," said Dodger.

Eva gave Tommy a hug. "Tell Spot and Jack I said hi," he said.

"We will," said Race.

"How long will it take you to get there?" Tumbler asked, holding Sally's hand.

"A week," said Race. "A week on the train, 10 days in Santa Fe, and a week back."

"Hope you packed a lot of books," said Sally.

"What do you think that suitcase is for?" she said, pointing to the one Tumbler had been holding. Tumbler handed it to the porter, who loaded it on the train.

"No wonder it was so heavy!" he said.

The train whistle blew.

"Bye!" Eva said, giving hugs and kisses to everyone.

"Send a telegram if anything happens," said Race.

"Stop worrying and have fun!" Sally smiled.

Race and Eva boarded the train. Race handed the porter their tickets. "Right this way, Mr. and Mrs. Higgins."

* * *

A week and several train changes later, the train pulled into the Santa Fe station. It wasn't so much a station as a small building next to the train tracks. Off in the distance, they could see a few buildings they could only assume was Santa Fe.

"I can't help but wonder what Jack thought when they pulled into this station," said Eva. "It definitely doesn't look like the pictures."

"I'd be more interested in what Spot was thinking," Race chuckled.

They got up and the porter helped them unload their luggage.

"Now there's two people who look outta place," they heard a familiar New York accent say.

"Jack!" Race grinned.

"Oh my god, he's a real cowboy," Eva chuckled. Jack was in denim pants, a shirt, and his old cowboy hat.

Race and Jack hugged, and Jack hugged and gave Eva a kiss on the cheek.

"And look who's expectin'!" Jack grinned. "It's great to see you two," he said.

"You too," said Race.

"Let me help you with the luggage," said Jack. Race and Jack loaded the suitcases in the small wagon hitched to his horse.

"Spot's got a nice set up for you," said Jack. "You'll be stayin' at his place."

"Where's Sarah?" asked Race.

"She's back at the ranch," said Jack. "I'll bring her into town tomorrow."

Jack drove them into town to a saloon, where they could hear piano music coming from inside.

Race looked up at the sign. "The Spot-on Saloon," Race chuckled. "Why does that not surprise me?"

"Yeah," Jack laughed. "Just wait until you see him."

Race got out of the wagon and helped Eva down. "You doing okay?" he asked, putting a hand on her stomach.

"I'm fine," she smiled, giving him a kiss.

Jack led them into the saloon. There was a piano player in the corner playing a lively tune. Tables were scattered all over the place with people drinking, playing poker, and talking. Along the back wall was a long bar, fully stocked. A bartender with a handlebar moustache was wiping down the bar and talking with a patron.

"Look familiar?" Jack pointed to the bartender.

"You've got to be kidding me," Eva said, grinning.

"Never in a million years would I imagine Spot Conlon, the fearless leader of the Brooklyn newsies, tending bar in a saloon out west with a handlebar moustache," said Race.

"Join the club," Jack laughed. They walked toward the bar. "Hey Conlon, I got a special delivery for you!"

Spot looked up and grinned when he saw Eva and Race.

"They're here!" he cheered, putting the towel down and walked out from behind the bar. "And look at you!" He grinned at Eva's pregnant belly. He gave Eva a hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Look at me, look at _you_!" Eva said.

"Hey Spot," Race said, shaking Spot's hand.

"You are probably exhausted from the long trip," said Spot. "I've got a room for you two at the hotel next door. Best room in the place!"

"You didn't have to do that," said Eva.

"I wanted to," he said. "I haven't seen you two in, what, five years? Besides, he and I do business together a lot. No problem at all."

* * *

Later that evening, after Race and Eva had a chance to get settled in their room, and wash up, they rejoined Jack and Spot in the saloon. Race sat at a table with Jack, playing poker.

"So how are the boys?" Jack asked.

Race nodded. "They're doin' alright," he said. "A lot of them are gone, but they still stop by every so often. Specs and Skittery are workin' at the circulation office."

"Good for them," Jack nodded. "Glad they can keep an eyes on the boys that way."

"Yeah," said Race. "Snipeshooter has sorta become the leader, ever since Blink left."

"Where did Blink go?"

"He and Mush started workin' at Tibby's not long after you left," said Race. "All the younger newsies are still there at the lodgin' house, though."

"I'm glad they're all doin' well," said Jack.

"Even after all this time, it still ain't the same with you, Cowboy," said Race. "Or Spot." Race shook his head. "Those were the days."

"They were good days," said Jack. Race nodded in agreement.

* * *

Eva sat at the bar sipping on a rootbeer, talking with Spot.

"So how's my New York?" Spot asked.

"Not the same without you," she said. "But Dodger's been keeping it inline for you. Jacob is planning on retiring in a year or two, so he's grooming Dodger to take over for him."

"Good," Spot smiled proudly.

"You'd be proud of him," said Eva. "He's great with the Brooklyn boys. Tommy's still selling. Sally is working for a friend of Mr. Lagorio's and dating Tumbler. But we all called that last one, I think."

Spot chuckled. "Things seem to be working out for you," Spot said, nodding at her stomach.

Eva chuckled and put her hand on her bump. "Yeah," she said. "This one is…" she paused, looking down at her stomach, "Well, we just hope this one makes it."

Spot understood. "I'm sorry," he said. "But I'm glad he wasted no time in marryin' you." Spot winked.

Eva smiled at him. "What about you?" she asked. "You out here driving all the girls crazy?"

Spot laughed. "Nah," he said. "But there is this one girl…"

Eva beamed, raising her eyebrows. "Do tell."

Spot shrugged. "Not much to tell," he said. "She came out here a few years ago with her husband, but her husband got sick and died almost as soon as they settled down out here. I go around her place every so often, just helpin' her fix up the place, you know, whenever she needed a man's help."

Eva smirked. "I bet she could use a man's help in areas other than fixin' up the house."

Spot laughed and rolled his eyes.

"You ever miss Brooklyn?"

Spot nodded. "Yeah," he said. "Not as much as when I first came out here, but there are times where I want nothing more than a hot dog from a street vendor, or to see my bridge against the sunrise."

"That reminds me. This is for you." She put a flat, rectangular package on the bar.

"What's this?" Spot asked. He unwrapped it. It was a framed photograph of the Brooklyn Bridge. "Eva, this is…wow. Thank you."

Eva smiled. "Thought you might want a little of your New York here in Santa Fe."

"This is gonna to hang right back there," Spot said, pointing behind the bar.

"So you never forget us," smiled Eva.

"Like I ever could." Spot grinned.

* * *

_Author's Note: Ending this story on my birthday seems fitting - and totally not intentional! Thank you to all who have reviewed during this whole process, giving me your feedback and encouragement - Allanna Stone, Ealasaid Una, and TheSecretPen1987 - you are wonderful! A special shoutout to BabyMyst who was my wonderful beta - this epilogue and Spot's mustache are dedicated to you! If you've been reading, but haven't reviewed, please do so. Let me know what you thought - the good, the bad, and the ugly! I'm currently working on a few more Newsies projects. If you liked this story, and want to know when I post the next ones, please follow me!_


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